For much of 2026, Vinnie Pasquantino looked like another Royal swallowed by a miserable season. Then the final stretch flipped the script.
Pasquantino’s late surge gave Kansas City something it had been short on for most of the year: a real reason to feel better about what comes next. The Royals stumbled to one of the worst records in baseball after coming into the season expecting to at least fight for the AL Central, and Pasquantino was right there with the club’s biggest disappointments early on.
That was hard to see coming after his strong showing for Italy in the World Baseball Classic. He blasted three home runs and helped Italy reach the semifinals before losing to Venezuela, and it looked like he was lined up for another big year in Kansas City.
Instead, the regular season started in a fog. By the end of April, he was sitting on a .165/.274/.320 slash line.
He did start to chip away at that slow start over the next month and a half, but then came the setback that really threatened to bury the season: a fractured hamate bone in his right hand in June. The injury sent him to the IL twice, and for a while it felt like the kind of problem that could derail everything.
When Pasquantino came back from the 10-day IL on August 17, he was still only batting .232 with a .664 OPS. His power numbers were especially jarring - just six home runs in a little more than 300 at-bats. For a first baseman whose value is built almost entirely on what he does at the plate, that raised real questions about his place in the club’s future.
Then the bat woke up.
Over his last 35 games, Pasquantino slugged well over .600, launched 11 home runs, and added nine doubles. He also drove in 30 runs during that run, nearly matching his RBI total from the entire first half. That kind of finish doesn’t just patch up a bad season; it changes the conversation around a player.
He put the exclamation point on it by hitting two home runs in the Royals’ 3-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians to close the season.
That ending matters for Kansas City. With Bobby Witt Jr. and Jac Caglianone forming part of the core, Pasquantino’s rebound gives the Royals another dangerous bat to build around.
His defensive limitations at first base made his offense non-negotiable, and for a while it looked like he might not provide enough of it. Now he’s back on track heading into 2027, and that removes one more problem from J.J.
Picollo’s list.
It also gives the Royals a little more room to think bigger. Young players like Carter Jensen and Blake Mitchell figure to be part of the offensive picture at a discounted price, while several disposable players are set to leave the club. That opens the door for Picollo to focus more aggressively on a pitching staff that was hammered by injuries.
In Other News...
Royals Enter 2027 With Big Questions About Their Medical Staff
The Royals are already facing a notable shake-up before the offseason even fully gets going, with several familiar names moving out of the major league support structure. Head athletic trainer Kyle Turner, assistant athletic trainer Chris DeLucia and major league rehab coordinator Jeff Blum will not return, while Melissa Lambert, who served as director of behavioral science and major league mental performance, has been reassigned to the minor leagues.
For a club that has spent recent seasons trying to build stability around its big league operation, changes like these matter because they touch everything from day-to-day injury management to the mental side of the game. Kansas City plans to fill the openings ahead of the 2027 season, and the next wave of hires will be worth watching closely as the organization tries to reset a staff that plays a much bigger role than most fans see. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Finally Shake Up A Spot Fans Knew Was A Problem
The Royals made a notable change to their hitting operation this week, reassigning Alec Zumwalt within the organization after a stretch of offensive frustration that has lingered for the past two seasons. Zumwalt is staying with the club as senior director of hitting performance, the job he held before moving into the major league hitting coach role in May 2022, but his responsibilities at the big-league level are shifting.
For Kansas City, the move underscores how persistent the lineup issues have become and how seriously the club is treating them. It also keeps Zumwalt in the building, where his next influence on the teams approach will come from a different seat than the one he occupied while the Royals tried to dig out of those struggles. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Nearly Lost A Voice That Became Part Of Franchise History
Denny Matthews has spent so much of Royals history behind the mic that it is easy to forget how close Kansas City came to hearing a very different voice for the franchises early years. The longtime broadcaster, who joined the team when it began in 1969, recently called his 8,000th game and was honored with the Baseball Hall of Fames Ford Frick Award, a fitting milestone for a man whose sound has become part of the clubs identity.
What makes the story resonate now is how long Matthews stayed with the Royals after considering other opportunities, including offers to broadcast for the Chicago Cubs. Instead of leaving, he remained a constant through eras of expansion, rebuilds and success, and he plans to keep calling games through the 2027 season, extending a run that has already made him one of the most enduring voices in baseball. [Read more 🡒]