MLB Writer Predicts a Vinnie Pasquantino Breakout in 2023
The Kansas City Royals are months away from the official start of their 2023 regular season, but it's never too early to predict what could happen in the upcoming campaign.
MLB.com recently published an article honing in on one player from each team who is slated to have a breakout season. For Kansas City, beat writer Anne Rogers selected first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino. Coming off an impressive rookie season, the 25-year-old is becoming a popular pick around the baseball world as an up-and-coming player. Here was Rogers' reasoning behind her choice:
Pasquantino had an excellent rookie year, posting an .832 OPS, 137 wRC+ and a 1.5 Baseball Reference WAR across 298 plate appearances. He established himself as the Royals’ No. 4 hitter and a core piece of the future. That has him poised for a breakout 2023 in which he plays a full season in the big leagues and truly lives up to his nickname as the "Italian Nightmare" for opposing pitchers. -- Anne Rogers
It's hard to disagree with the decision-making process here, as Pasquantino was one of the Royals' best young players in 2022. After hitting the cover off the ball in 73 games with Triple-A Omaha to begin the year (18 home runs and a 139 wRC+ in 313 plate appearances), Pasquantino got called up and immediately got to work. Even after spending some time on the injured list beginning in late August, the Old Dominion product returned to the lineup and ended the season on a tear. From Sept. 9 through the final game of the year on Oct. 5, he slashed .361/.449/.482 with a minuscule 7.1% strikeout rate.
Known for his patience and maturity at the plate, Pasquantino logged more walks (35) than strikeouts (34) this past season. He posted a double-digit walk rate at every single step of his minor-league journey, and that production remained steady at the big-league level. In all, Pasquantino's .295 batting average and .383 OBP trailed only Andrew Benintendi among players who appeared in at least 70 games for Kansas City in 2022.
The only real hole to poke in Pasquantino's game is his speed, as he ranked in the 15th percentile in Baseball Savant's sprint speed metric as a rookie. His defense is adequate and while his power took a dip once he joined the Royals (.155 ISO with Kansas City compared to a previous career low of .250 at Double-A in 2021), that figure is a promising candidate to creep back up. If that happens, and perhaps even if it doesn't, Rogers' prediction of a Pasquantino breakout in 2023 may become a reality.
