After first taste of postseason, Royals' young core hungry for more

KANSAS CITY -- After being guided by veteran players in what was the first playoff run for many of the Royals’ young core of players, they now have a taste of what playing in October means -- and the heartbreak that comes with it.

After falling short, 3-1, to the Yankees in Game 4, Kansas City made an early exit in the American League Division Series on Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium. Its young players, led by Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino, got the experience of postseason play and are now turning their focus to making next year’s run even longer.

“We've been in these positions now, in playoff games,” Pasquantino said. “It's not like we didn't win a game in the playoffs. We won a few of them. So we have some of that experience right now, which should prove to be nice going into next year, and I think it will help.”

Witt was at the forefront of the young Royals core. He was alongside veteran Salvador Perez as a leader of the team, according to manager Matt Quatraro, and he is one of the contenders for American League MVP.

“They're the heart and soul of not only the team, the organization, the community,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “We're very proud of what they've done this year, and we would look for that to continue.”

After batting .332/.389/.588 in his first All-Star season, Witt was front and center in this series, expected to perform on the October stage. He contributed two big hits in the AL Wild Card Series sweep against the Orioles, but he began to struggle in the ALDS. He went 2-for-17 against the Yankees and noted later that it would benefit him to slow the game down.

“It's the same game I played my entire life,” he said. “The mound is 60 feet, six inches away. It's 90 feet to first base. I just have to control what I can and just go about it the way I do each and every day, and just know that we’ve just got to go out there and enjoy it and have fun.”

Pasquantino echoed the same sentiment. The designated hitter overcame some pretty steep odds -- he was nearly unavailable for the playoffs after sustaining a broken right thumb in late August, underwent surgery then rehabbed aggressively with hopes of returning by October.

Just five weeks after breaking his thumb, Pasquantino’s name was in the lineup for Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series against the Orioles on Oct. 1.

“It was a huge emotional lift to get him back, and good for him. That was a long shot,” Quatraro said. “The way he went about it, the way he just really got after it from the minute he got hurt -- probably uncomfortably so, his hand was broken -- but to come back and show that fight and the fortitude to do that, that shows who he is as a person, and the team respects the heck out of him.”

Pasquantino knocked a big hit in Game 2 against the O’s -- an RBI single in the top of the first inning -- but then didn’t record his first hit in the ALDS until an RBI double in the sixth inning on Thursday for the Royals’ only run against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole.

While there were struggles, Witt and Pasquantino are planning on using what they learned from this postseason run to help prepare for the offseason. Witt said that the expectation going forward is to make it into the postseason every year now that they’ve gotten a taste.

“It's motivation. That's really all there is to it,” Witt added. “It’s just going to make everyone in this clubhouse want to work harder, and that's what we're going to do. We have an amazing team. I feel like our team was special this year, but we're just going to keep getting better.”

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind in the Royals’ clubhouse of what the two young stars can help the team accomplish in the future. They contributed to bringing the playoffs back to Kansas City for the first time since 2015, and while it was not the ending they wanted, the tone is set for future seasons.

“They’re very young, but they are competitors,” said Yuli Gurriel in Spanish. “I think those guys, with the talent they have, they’re going to make a lot of history and they’re going to help drive this team.”