Royals Need 1B Vinnie Pasquantino to Mimic Second Half Tear to Start 2027

The regular season is officially over, and the Royals have a lot of things to fix in the offseason. It was a lost season for the Royals, which saw them come into the year with expectations of competing for the division but falling well short, going 69-93. There were plenty of reasons for the Royals bad season, but one reason early was the struggles of Vinnie Pasquantino early, and the injuries he sustained throughout the year.

In the first half of the season, Vinnie struggled with a wRC+ of 80 and OPS of .653, but once June came around, he started warming up. He then broke his hamate and missed about a month of action because of it. When he returned, it seemed like he was back to his old self until he hit the IL again for hand soreness.

After missing two weeks of action, he returned for good and put together a stellar final stretch of play with an OPS of .936 and a wRC+ of 157 to close the season. Vinnie looked like a different batter in the latter half of the season, so what changed?

Second Half Changes and the Need to Overcome Slow Starter Stigma

There were a handful of changes for Vinnie in both his approach at the plate and his batting stance to make him more active at the plate. One of the bigger changes for Vinnie was in his swing rates. On the year, he swung the bat 46.5% of the time, which is about his norm. In the second half of the year, he swung the bat a touch more at 48.3%.

Now, that doesn't sound like that big of a difference, but taking it apart and dividing it between his Z-swing% and O-swing% will tell the tale. His Z-swing% in the second half sat at 72.1%; overall, it was 66.1%. That pairs well with his usually elite Z-contact% as it sat at 91.7% on the season and 93.6% in the second half.

Mix that with the fact that when he did chase out of the zone, which he does at an average rate, he makes contact 75.4% of the time. So, in the second half he was making more contact, but it was also quality contact as he was able to put the barrel on the ball more often in the latter half of the season.

Vinnie showed off the power in the second half of the season, and it shows through his barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and average exit velocity. He barreled the ball 15.0% of the time, which is well above his career average, leading to a hard-hit rate of 46.0% and an average exit velocity of 92.0 mph. He also did all of this while still keeping a solid BB/K ratio of 0.78 (18:23) in the second half.

Vinnie Pasquantino's percentiles from Aug. 1 onwards. | Via TJStats.ca

The biggest thing to take a dip during the second half was his walk rate, as it was 9.7% in the second half compared to 11.0% in the first half. That is a sacrifice many fans would more than likely want if Vinnie is able to continue performing like he did to end 2026. The issue is his stigma as a slow starter.

The thing that has plagued Vinnie throughout his career has been the slow starts to seasons. In the first month of action in his career, he has an OPS of .682 and a wRC+ of 86. Then he begins to warm up as summer approaches, with wRC+'s around 105-110 heading into the All-Star break. Finally, he tends to save his best play for last with a wRC+ of 140 in the second half of the season.

One thing that stands out early in the season for Vinnie is that he is more patient at the plate, with a walk rate of 11.5%. That shows that he is probably still working on his timing at the plate, and as the season progresses, he finds his flow at the plate. The issue is that in 2026, not many Royals batters were good, leaving Vinnie's slow start as a key part of the issue.

Conclusion

While Vinnie gets a good amount of blame for his slow start, it shouldn't be overlooked that the team was pretty bad at the plate early in the year. When the RBI guy isn't driving in runs, the offense slides, and if the Royals want to avoid a slow start, Vinnie needs to be a centerpiece of that. With the mechanical changes at the plate, along with his newfound approach, Vinnie and the Royals need to start 2027 strong.

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