ST. PETERSBURG -- You know that Jac Caglianone is performing like one of the best hitters in baseball right now.
But he’s not the only second-year, homegrown Royal who looks like a burgeoning star.
Catcher Carter Jensen continued his hot streak with a key RBI single during Kansas City’s 2-1 victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field on Monday.
His line-drive knock off Rays ace Drew Rasmussen in the fifth inning provided the Royals’ second run and extended his hitting streak to 13 games. During this stretch, the 22-year-old Jensen, who has commonly batted leadoff while also handling the pitching staff, is batting .365 with a 1.070 OPS.
“It’s been a lot of work,” manager Matt Quatraro said of his rookie catcher. “He’s done a lot throughout the year to fine-tune his day, his preparation, all those kinds of things. He should be credited for the work he's put in. He's seeing the rewards for it.”
But Jensen doesn’t see everything on his plate as work. The Kansas City native says he’s just “living out [his] dream.”
When his streak began on June 6, Jensen had elevated strikeout and whiff rates (30.2% and 32.6%, respectively). Since then, those numbers have plummeted to 15.5% and 18.4%. Meanwhile, Jensen’s hard-hit rate, which was 40.2% prior to the streak, is 53.3% over these past couple of weeks. And that rate went up when he smashed a cutter from Rasmussen back up the middle at 109.2 mph to drive in Nick Loftin.
“I think it all starts with just swinging at my pitches,” Jensen said of his recent success at the plate. “Not getting antsy at the plate to swing at everything or try to get the hit in the first two pitches of the at-bat. I think the strong thing that I do pretty well is take good at-bats. I think earlier in the season I was just trying to do too much with pitches that I couldn't handle, such as pitches out of the zone.”
Jensen, the Royals’ third-round pick in the 2021 Draft, also made an impact with his arm in the eighth inning as he fired a throw down to second base to get pinch-runner Victor Mesa Jr. trying to steal, ending the frame and preserving Kansas City’s one-run lead.
Watching Jensen throw out his 11th runner of the season left reliever John Schreiber pretty amped up as he made his way off the mound. What did he say to the rookie backstop?
“Just some explicit language,” Schreiber said. “‘Let’s go!’”
Jensen was also behind the plate for seven brilliant innings from veteran starter Michael Wacha. The former Ray allowed only one run and one walk while striking out five, effectively outdueling Rasmussen, who came into the game with the second-lowest ERA in the American League (2.59).
Wacha and Rasmussen were teammates during the 2021 season with Tampa Bay. Wacha’s results that year -- a 3-5 record with a 5.05 ERA across 124 2/3 innings -- may not have been exactly what he wanted. But he learned a lot about himself that year and made some adjustments during the second half that served him well moving forward. They served him well on Monday, too.
“This place definitely helped shape who I was,” the veteran righty said.
Wacha generally relied on his four-seamer, changeup and cutter before coming to the Rays. With them, he began leaning more on his sinker and curveball. Ironically, Wacha threw his most sinkers in any game this season on Monday (21). The Rays went 1-for-10 with three K’s against that pitch.
“I thought me and Jensen had a good plan coming into it,” Wacha said.
Since his one season with Tampa Bay, the 34-year-old Wacha has been one of the more reliable starters in the game and has finished each of the past four seasons with a sub-4.00 ERA. With Monday’s effort in the books, he’s got a 3.48 ERA over 101 innings this year.
“He's one of the nicest humans I've ever gotten the opportunity to share a locker room with,” Rasmussen said of his former teammate. “He's like fine wine; he's getting better with age. It's fun to watch. I'm happy for him. It's great to see.”