Injuries, inconsistency are making Vinnie Pasquantino harder to defend as member of Royals core

The Kansas City Royals are about to enter the peak of trade deadline season looking to find ways to better complement their core and compete while they're all under team control. It seems like a consensus that All-Stars Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia along with rising young stars like Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone are firmly in their core. However, one name that has become more contentious among the Royals faithful is Vinnie Pasquantino.

At his peak, like he demonstrated in 2025, Pasquantino can be a key top-half hitter with 30+ HR and 100+ RBI capabilities. The problem for Pasquantino in the early parts of his career has been staying healthy. In 2023, he played just 61 games due to a torn labrum, in 2024 a broken thumb kept him sidelined for their September playoff push and after a healthy 2025 season, the injury bug has bitten the Pasquatch once again.

After undergoing surgery to repair a fractured hamate bone, Pasquantino landed on the IL this past week with wrist soreness in the same area. He has just 79 games under his belt and with a set back like this, there's plenty of reason to believe his IL stint may not be a straightforward one.

On top of his injury concerns, Pasquantino has been a notoriously slow starter. For his career he holds a 99 wRC+ in the first-half compared to a 134 wRC+ in the second-half. This highlighted by the a brutal 86 wRC+ in March/April. With the Royals so desperate to get out on the right foot every year, and seemingly falling behind the eight ball time and time again, he hasn't been the reliable bat they need him to be from the get-go to help fuel an early onslaught.

In a piece previewing every team's trade deadline, ESPN's Jeff Passan mentioned Pasquantino alongside Witt, Garcia, Jensen and Caglianone as members of the Royals core to build around. However, at 28-years-old with the inconsistency and injury past he's had, it's hard to really put him in the same category as those four. Witt and Garcia are proven All-Stars and Jensen and Caglianone are building on their top prospect pedigree immensely. Pasquantino has not and doesn't not have any of those areas of recognition to build upon himself.

Royals shouldn't be rushed into moving Vinnie Pasquantino at trade deadline

Now, by no means do I want this to turn into a hit piece on Pasquantino. He's a fan favorite, vocal clubhouse leader and a productive hitter overall, always mustering above-average offensive season until this year since debuting in 2022. However, above-average hitters are not always core members, and in this case there's more argument to be made for him as a complementary piece more than anything else.

Pasquantino is still more valuable on this team at the moment than off if it though. Given his Silver Slugger potential, he could very well provide some middle-of-the-order protection to the top-half bats like the aforementioned core four. And again, his personality is hard not to love and easy for the fans to get behind.

Some fans may want to view Pasquantino as a trade piece at the deadline to upgrade in other areas. However, this seems unwise. Apart from his value at the dish, albeit somewhat inconsistent as we've discussed, with his current injuries and career-low 84 wRC+, they would surely be selling him at his lowest value, even if it means they could offer suitors more control.

It's a weird state of limbo to be in for sure, but parting ways with him now would seem like the sort of rash trade decision the Royals may soon come to regret after the fact.

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