Entering May, it looked like Vinnie Pasquantino’s unfortunate and untimely thumb injury of 2024 lingered. Before that game, which was the finale of a three-game series in Tampa, Pasquatch owned one ugly
slash line: .177/.242/.327.
It’s pretty amazing, then, that he ended the season with an OPS of .798, 20% above league average, while setting career highs in games played, runs, hits, doubles, home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage, total bases, and bWAR.
His 32 home runs paced the Royals and were tied for 17th in the Majors while his 113 RBIs also topped the Royals and placed him sixth in all of baseball. He was one of only 14 players (including teammate Salvador Perez) to punch at least 30 homers while driving in at least 100 runs.
Perhaps most importantly, Pasquantino was available.
He played in 160 games this season (which tied Maikel Garcia for the team lead) after missing a significant chunk of time—31 games, to be exact—in 2024 after that unfortunate injury to his thumb. Even before that, though, in 2023, Pasquantino missed even more time due to a torn labrum suffered early in the season, in June. That limited him to a mere 61 games that season.
Now, coming off a career-year, Pasquantino is arbitration-eligible. Could he be the next Royal in line for a contract extension? During the Royals Review end-of-the-year roundtable, I predicted he would ink that very thing before the next Opening Day.
Regardless, Pasquantino has established himself as a basher, one of the best middle-of-the-lineup bats not just on the Royals but in all of baseball. With the labrum healed and the thumb injury seemingly in the rear-view mirror, I’d expect Pasquatch, also known as the Italian Nightmare, per baseball-reference, to once again anchor the Royals lineup in 2026 while adding much needed protection for Bobby Witt Jr.
He’s also really nice to the media!
Season Grade: A
Now say you.
