Pasquantino back for Wild Card Series: 'It feels awesome'

BALTIMORE -- Vinnie Pasquantino is back, and the Royals received a big boost to their offense ahead of the American League Wild Card Series against the Orioles, with Game 1 set for Tuesday at 3:08 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

Pasquantino was on the Wild Card Series roster announced Tuesday morning, not long after the club posted a teaser on X featuring a photo of a "Pasquatch," Pasquantino’s nickname, holding a bat.

Just one month after breaking his right thumb on a defensive play in Houston, Pasquantino will return to the lineup that has sorely missed one of its most important run producers. The 26-year-old slugger drove in 97 runs before his injury. He hit 19 home runs in 2024 and posted a .761 OPS.

“It feels awesome,” Pasquantino said. “Put in a lot of work for this. It’s kind of a special personal day, just because we finally got the green light.”

From the start of the season through Aug. 28, the Royals slashed .258/.314/.425 as a team. In the final month of the season, that slash line dropped to .197/.266/.294, and the Royals went 11-16. The lack of production came from a variety of reasons, but it’s hard to ignore Pasquantino’s absence as one of them, particularly with the Royals struggling with runners in scoring position.

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But getting him back for October -- only as a designated hitter -- was always the goal, even though there was a range of emotions throughout this process. Pasquantino said on Sept. 2 that in his mind, his season wasn’t over. On Sept. 3, he had surgery, and he was in “so much pain that I was like, ‘This is definitely not going to happen,’ Pasquantino said Tuesday.

The pain subsided over the days after the surgery, enough that Pasquantino got back to thinking about his return. And then the cast was removed, and he saw the scar. Back to worrying.

“I was like, ‘Absolutely not, this is definitely not going to happen,’” Pasquantino said. “It looked like there was a worm on my hand. It was disgusting. And then when they took the stitches out, I was like, ‘Oh my god, it looks like a hand again. Maybe we do have a shot.’

Pasquantino began taking one-handed swings when he got the cast off to keep his body rotating. He began hitting about 10 days ago, and every day that he felt good, he ramped up the intensity of swings. He hit off a machine on the field in D.C. last week and against live pitching Saturday in Atlanta. That was when many within the organization truly felt Pasquantino could get back in time for the Wild Card Series.

“The emotions are pretty good today,” Pasquantino said.

“... We know the risk, though. Because there are risks to it. But in my mind, there are some rewards, too.”

The reward is that the Royals have their top three hitters now in Bobby Witt Jr., Pasquantino and Salvador Perez. A lot will be resting on their shoulders to get things done offensively this series. Pasquantino is still not 100% healthy, although he feels good with his swing.

But the Royals are ready to have him back.

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“Vinnie just needs to be Vinnie,” general manager J.J. Picollo said. “Take good at-bats, get on base. Salvy needs to come up with people on base. Bobby and Vinnie in front of him, that’s what we hope will happen, so we have those opportunities. But knowing Vinnie, and the way he approaches things, he’s going to be just fine. I don’t think he’s going to try to do too much.

“We’ve talked to him about different things, how the opponents may pitch him – he understands that. It kind of plays into his hands a little bit because he's a very patient hitter. So we don't really have any concern with it.”

Here is the Royals’ full Wild Card Series roster:

Starters: LHP Cole Ragans, RHP Seth Lugo, RHP Michael Wacha

Relievers: LHP Kris Bubic, RHP Lucas Erceg, LHP Sam Long, RHP Michael Lorenzen, LHP Daniel Lynch IV, RHP John Schreiber, RHP Brady Singer, LHP Angel Zerpa

Catchers: Perez, Freddy Fermin

Infielders: Witt, Paul DeJong, Adam Frazier, Maikel Garcia, Yuli Gurriel, Garrett Hampson, Michael Massey

Outfielders: Dairon Blanco, Kyle Isbel, MJ Melendez, Tommy Pham, Hunter Renfroe

Designated hitter: Pasquantino

Because there are only 11 pitchers, Carlos Hernández was left off the roster for the first round with Singer and Lorenzen moving to the bullpen. Alec Marsh started Sunday’s regular-season finale and was left off the roster due to his unavailability for the next couple of days. Will Smith (back spasms) and Chris Stratton (right forearm flexor strain) will continue their rehab programs in case they’re needed at any point.

The length Singer and Lorenzen can give, along with Lynch, allows the Royals to feel confident with only 11 pitchers on the roster (eight relievers). And it allows them to carry 15 position players, so Quatraro can rely on the bench matchups he likes throughout the game, much like he did throughout the regular season.

In Game 1, Hunter Renfroe and Paul DeJong will be right-handed power bats off the bench. Outfielder Dairon Blanco will have big opportunities late in games as a pinch-runner.

“We use our roster,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “We pinch-run, we pinch-hit, we think that’s the best way to match up throughout this series with these guys. We need to be able to pinch-run and do all the things that we’ve done all season.”