The Royals received heartbreaking injury news on Friday, as standout first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino will miss 6-8 weeks due to a broken right thumb sustained in Thursday night’s 6-3 loss to the Houston Astros.
In the best-case scenario, he will return toward the midst of the playoffs. Worst-case? He’s finished for the year. At the absolute least, Pasquantino will miss the regular season as Kansas City prepares for its most critical month of baseball in nearly a decade.
After only playing in 62 games in 2023 because to a shoulder injury, the 26-year-old slugger became one of the American League’s most productive sluggers, but he will no longer be part of the team’s immediate plans.
1B Vinnie Pasquantino Out 6-8 Weeks With Broken Thumb
His season will conclude with a.262 batting average and.760 OPS. Pasquantino leads the squad with 19 home runs and 97 RBI, ranking fourth in the MLB, along with 30 doubles and 40 walks.
Entering Friday’s games, the Royals were 1.5 games behind the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central but 5.5 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox for the last AL Wild Card place. Barring a collapse, this squad is still in a strong position to make the playoffs.
Pasquantino’s absence is significant, as the Astros have three more games before facing the Guardians and Minnesota Twins in playoff series. He has seven home runs and 25 RBIs in August. The Royals don’t have a ready replacement for him, so this scrappy lineup needs someone to step up significantly.
Kansas City can handle the news, but losing such a valuable bat in the middle of the lineup is always a concern. Let’s hope Pasquantino returns in the playoffs, but in any case, the Royals are a far worse baseball team than they were 24 hours ago.
