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Jac Caglianone is fully in the running for AL player of the month for June, with just a week left. As of this morning, he is third in the AL in wRC+ behind only his Team Italy teammate Dominic Canzone and Yordan Alvarez, who could become the AL MVP favorite if Bobby Witt Jr. misses significant time with his knee injury. While he’s not a burner and isn’t rated particularly well defensively, he still edges out both of those players in fWAR. Dillon Dingler, with superior defense at the catcher position, is the only player higher than Jac there. Perhaps most importantly for today’s question, though, only two players in the AL have hit more jacks than Jac in the month of June: Nick Kurtz and Byron Buxton.
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It’s a good time to jump on the Jac Wagon, is what I’m saying.
But as June wraps up, we all begin to turn our thoughts to the upcoming All-Star festivities. Bobby seems primed to finally get his first start at Shortstop in the Midsummer Classic. It’s not entirely clear which, if any other Royals, might join him on the roster. Jac seems like a possibility, but you don’t actually have to be an All-Star to be invited to participate in the Home Run Derby.
Last year’s derby featured Oneil Cruz, despite the fact that he was not an All-Star. It wasn’t evenly split among AL and NL, with 5 AL players participating to 3 NL. The AL participants were first, fourth, fifth, eighth, and fifteenth on the home run leaderboard for their league. The NL players were sixth, seventeenth, and twenty-second. In fact, the only real criterion for participating is that people have to want to see you smack dingers, and who do you want to watch hit dingers right now more than Jac Caglianone?
To that end, I’ll make a bit of a clarification about the term “deserves” in the following poll. Since there are no criteria, use your own! Maybe you think Jac doesn’t deserve it because he’s barely in the top 25 in the AL for home runs. Or maybe you think he does deserve it because you’re a Royals fan. The point is, vote your heart, but vote. And, of course, don’t forget to vote Jac, Bobby, and the rest of the Royals to the All-Star Game!
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