Every Royals fan will know who Pasquantino is by the end of the year
By: Quinten Morris
The Kansas City Royals first baseman is going to be one of the best offensive players on the Royals. Pasquantino is part of the youth movement the Royals are heading into. Pasquantino played in about half of the games during the 2022 season. He took his first major league at bat on June 28. He immediately showed off his talent. By his third game Pasquantino would hit his first home run.
After only playing half a year, Pasquantino put up solid numbers. His .295 batting average, 10 home runs and .833 OPS are something to build off of.
Pasquantino falls into the bin of a player that shows off the benefits of the statcast era of baseball. Pasquantino has some elite traits. One of them is the power he shows off every at bat. Baseball Savant. Over all of his games, Pasquantino only struggles to hit the ball hard on one section of the strike zone. When Pasquantino puts balls in play (BIP) he only struggles to hit the ball hard when the ball is located in the upper right side of the zone. As a left-handed batter, this is inside near his hands a normal location for a batter to struggle with.
(stat cast information is from Baseball Savant)
Pasquantino is also elite on his average launch angle. This is what will lead him to hit home runs and could have him leading the team in home runs. Pasquantino is also going to benefit from the removal of the shift. He is an extreme pull hitter. In 2022 all of his home runs were hit to right field and center right field. Pasquantino also hit a ton of balls to shallow right field where last season teams would play their shortstop. This year his line drive outs are going to turn into hard shot singles.
There is no longer a disincentive for him to not use his power to pull the ball. The removal of the shift will impact him more than most players on the Royals for 2023.
Pasquantino will be the number one option at first base giving him a lot of playing time. Every time a fan goes to Kauffman Stadium Pasquantino should be playing first base. While Bobby Whitt Jr. is bound to be a superstar and the future of the youth movement, Pasquatino will be right behind him. If the Royals are going to be competitive in the future the next young wave of talent needs to be successful.
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