Any given night, Florida two-way sensation Jac Caglianone is capable of making headlines. Thursday’s series opener in Nashville, Tenn., against Vanderbilt was no different.
Two days after the junior went viral for an estimated 516-foot shot in a non-conference win over Jacksonville, the player who’s been referred to as the “collegiate Ohtani” has done it again. This time, as you can see in the above video, he took a curveball opposite field over the left-field fence, giving him his staggering eighth consecutive game with a home run.
This is one shy of the NCAA record for consecutive such games by Nevada's Tyler Bosetti in 2021, and it matches the MLB record of eight as well. Three MLB players have had eight straight such games -- Dale Long in 1956, Don Mattingly in '87 and Ken Griffey Jr. in '93. Though Mike Trout came close with seven straight games in 2022, it has been discussed by MLB.com as arguably the most unbreakable home run record.
As for Caglianone, the No. 5 ranked prospect ahead of the 2024 MLB Draft, this is only a continuation of what’s been an incomprehensibly productive season so far. One year after he was a Golden Spikes Award finalist who finished with 33 home runs in 71 games, the most homers by any Division I player since the NCAA adopted new rules regarding which bats were legal in 2011, he’s taken his game to an even higher level.
Entering play on Thursday, his offensive stats resembled those from video games, with 21 home runs in 36 games to go with a ridiculous .400/.494/.848 slash line. On the mound, his production hasn’t quite been at the same level, but he still has gotten the job done there, with a 4-0 record, a 3.89 ERA and 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
As such, while Florida (which entered Thursday with a 19-17 record, 7-8 in SEC play) doesn’t appear slated to repeat the success of last season’s national finalist team, it’s evident that Caglianone is as dominant as he’s ever been. We only have a few weeks left of an outright legendary college baseball career, and if the past few days are any indication, every single outing will be worth watching.