Barrels turn to blasts for hard-hitting Vinnie

KANSAS CITY -- Vinnie Pasquantino and the Royals were always confident the damage would soon come for the rookie slugger. The evidence was in the hard exit velocities flashing up on the scoreboard for nearly every ball he pulled.

The adjustments in his swing turned those hard-hit rates into results when Pasquantino homered twice in the Royals’ doubleheader split against the White Sox on Tuesday, including a game-tying shot in their 3-2 loss in the nightcap at Kauffman Stadium.

Pasquantino’s Statcast-projected 404-foot solo blast was one of five hits the Royals mustered in Game 2, their consistent barrage of offense finally sputtering. Yet Kansas City had a chance to sweep after starter Jonathan Heasley allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings and the bullpen held the White Sox at bay except for the eighth inning, when Jose Cuas -- pitching for the second time Tuesday -- allowed a leadoff walk to come around to score.

“It was unfortunate a couple things didn’t go our way,” manager Mike Matheny said, “but we saw some really good things today.”

Perhaps the biggest positive was Pasquantino’s two-homer day -- the first a go-ahead two-run jack in the third inning of the Royals’ 4-2 Game 1 win.

The 24-year-old became the 13th player in franchise history to homer in both halves of a doubleheader and the first since Whit Merrifield did it on Aug. 6, 2017, against the Mariners. Additionally, Pasquantino was the third Kansas City rookie to achieve the feat, joining Lou Piniella and Bob Oliver in the 1969 season.

Pasquantino has been very consistent for the Royals since he was called up at the end of June, and he is slashing .268/.333/.446 in his last 15 games. But it had been three weeks since his last home run on July 16 in Toronto. In the meantime, he has been crushing the ball -- but with fewer results than he likely deserves.

According to Baseball Savant, Pasquantino has the third-highest exit velocity on outs in the Majors (minimum 100 batted balls) at 91.4 mph, and the highest exit velocity specifically on pulled outs at 95.6 mph.

“You know when you see the hard-hit rate as consistent as he’s finding the barrel, sooner or later he’s going to be able to get to the right angle to where he can get it in the air a little bit and let it carry,” Matheny said.

Pasquantino does his best not to get caught up in the results, especially when his swing feels as good as it does and the underlying metrics tell him he’s on the right track. But that doesn’t mean the process doesn’t get frustrating.

“It’s hard for all our guys to not get caught up in results,” Matheny said. “Even if they hit balls hard and they’re not getting any kind of positive feedback when it comes to helping us win a game, it wears on them. He’s really handled it well for a guy who hasn’t been around long. He’ll be joking about it, and you can tell by the way he’s going about his work, he’s trying to make small adjustments to figure out how to turn some of those hard-hit outs into damage.”

Pasquantino preferred not to give away his adjustment secrets. But lofting the ball has been somewhat of a focus for him, especially knowing how much he’s shifted as a left-handed hitter.

“You hit a ground ball on the pull side, it’s an out,” Pasquantino said. “It doesn’t matter how hard you hit it. And I’m not beating any out.

“It’s the same thing as when you get, like, a blooper. You just move on. It’s nothing you fret about, it’s just one thing where it’s like, ‘Whatever happened that at-bat doesn’t affect my next at-bat.’ If I get one hard and get out, that’s just the game.”

Pasquantino has also shown the ability to go the opposite field. Sometimes, the luck falls his way, as it did in the ninth inning of Game 2, when a jam shot stayed fair rolling down the third-base line for a single, which ended up as the Royals’ second run of the game.

And he’s certainly not afraid to take his walks, either, as he did in the sixth against lefty Jake Diekman.

“Just all around, a good idea at the plate today,” Matheny said. “[He’s] feeling confident. … He was getting some [results], but not the results he really should have had with how hard he’s hitting the ball. So good to see him [make] some progress forward with his confidence more than anything else.”