KANSAS CITY – After Wednesday night’s multihomer game, Carter Jensen approached Jac Caglianone in the Royals' clubhouse with a grin.
Two more, he told his friend and teammate, referring to his home run total being just two behind Caglianone’s for the season.
Now make it one more after Jensen’s Statcast-projected 440-foot home run Thursday night, his third in the last two games and the go-ahead two-run blast in the Royals’ eventual 7-3 win over the Marlins at Kauffman Stadium. It gave Jensen 22 homers on the year compared to Caglianone’s 23 – and it matched Bo Jackson (1987) and Carlos Beltran (‘99) for second-most by a Royals rookie behind Bob Hamelin’s 24 in ‘94.
Jensen and Caglianone are competitors in just about everything, and that can be a good thing for the Royals as the 23-year-old sluggers keep getting better with 2026 nearing an end. They certainly feed off each other, and it’s not just in homers, either. They’re nearly neck-and-neck in RBIs. Three from Jensen on Thursday with his triple and two-run homer put him at 67 for the year, while Caglianone pushed ahead with two of his own on Thursday – thanks to a double and single – to give him 69 on the year.
“I’ve got to freaking start hitting homers,” Caglianone said. “I can’t let him pass me or tie me. I’m glad I got that last RBI, because that puts me ahead of him.”
While the season itself has been unsatisfactory for Kansas City and its 63-78 record with 21 games left, enough can’t be said about how important this year was to see the development and establishment of Caglianone and Jensen as premier hitters not just in the Royals’ lineup, but also in the league. There was optimism that both would emerge as key pieces for the Royals in ‘26. Now at the end of the season, with both having surpassed 500 plate appearances, it’s no longer just hope and optimism: It’s reality. They’ll be counted on in 2027.
“For them to know who they are, I think is huge,” shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. said. “I think that was the biggest thing for me becoming a big leaguer. Knowing who I am and what I need to do for the team. They’ve both improved, they both ask questions, and they both have gotten better every day.”
And when Caglianone and Jensen click like they did Thursday, this lineup looks deeper. Jensen got things started with his triple in the third inning, lining a two-strike changeup from Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara to right-center field. Caglianone brought Jensen home two batters later with a two-out, two-strike double that tied the game.
Royals starter Michael Wacha gave that lead back to the Marlins with Agustín Ramírez’s home run in the fourth, but Jensen’s moonshot in the fifth swung the game back in the Royals’ favor for good.
“They picked me up in a big way today,” said Wacha, who allowed three runs in six innings. “It’s been a lot of fun to watch. They’re dangerous in the box. They’re swinging at good pitches and making a lot of hard contact.”
The insurance runs came in the eighth with Jensen leading off with a double, putting him just a single shy of the cycle during a 3-for-4 night. After Witt’s groundout moved Jensen up to third, Caglianone scored him with a single, and back-to-back doubles from Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino expanded the lead.
“One through five, we count on those guys every night,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “They all came through in their own way in that eighth inning to really break it open a little bit.”
Thursday started with news that Caglianone and Noah Cameron were named American League Player and Pitcher of the Month, respectively, marking just the fourth time the Royals have had both the AL top players 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.
Never one to be left behind, perhaps Jensen will join them in September.
“Super fun to see him do what he’s been doing the past couple of days,” Caglianone said. “I feel like every September, he’s just built for it. I expect a lot more out of him this month.”