KANSAS CITY – Jac Caglianone just took home American League Player of the Month honors in August. Noah Cameron joined him as the AL Pitcher of the Month. Carter Jensen is scorching hot to begin September.
Not bad for three homegrown players who will feature prominently in the Royals’ plans for 2027 and beyond.
With Cameron watching from the dugout after starting Wednesday’s game, Caglianone and Jensen were big contributors in the Royals’ 7-3 win over the Marlins at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday, as they took the series finale after back-to-back losses. Caglianone hit a game-tying double in the third inning against Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara, driving in Jensen after his RBI triple, and gave the Royals some insurance in the eighth with an RBI single.
After the Marlins retook the lead against starter Michael Wacha, who allowed three earned runs in six innings, Jensen swung the game back in the Royals’ favor with the go-ahead two-run home run in the fifth.
The Statcast-projected 440-foot blast was Jensen’s third in the last two days after his multihomer game Wednesday, and it was his 22nd home run of the year, matching Bo Jackson (1987) and Carlos Beltran (‘99) for second-most by a Royals rookie behind Bob Hamelin’s 24 in ‘94.
Jensen added a double in the eighth inning, putting him a single shy of the cycle during his 3-for-4 night.
Royals pitchers held onto that one-run lead with Wacha’s quality start – his AL-leading 19th of the season – and the bullpen. Craig Kimbrel recorded two outs in the seventh before exiting the game due to nausea, but Nate Pearson provided four big outs to bridge the gap to closer Steven Cruz in the ninth.
Thursday started with news that Caglianone and Cameron were named the top AL players in August, marking just the fourth time the Royals have had both the AL Player and Pitcher of the Month in the same month. The other instances: July 1985 (George Brett and Bret Saberhagen), September 1981 (Willie Wilson and Larry Gura) and July 1980 (Brett and Gura).
Caglianone led the AL last month in batting average (.411), slugging percentage (.684), OPS (1.113) and RBIs (26). Cameron went 4-0 in five starts last month and posted a 1.87 ERA, which ranked fourth in the league.
Perhaps Jensen will join them in September.