Royals Vinnie Pasquantino's clubhouse leadership on full display in latest comments

It has to be hard being Vinnie Pasquantino sometimes. He's one of the best baseball players in the world, but he plays with a guy who might actually be THE best player in the world.

Playing Robin when you know your Batman has to be exhausting mentally, but Vinnie is built different. He doesn't care about the headlines on FanSided or the conversation on MLB Network.

Well, he might care a little bit. He seems to be finding himself on network TV more often, and he's never been one to shy away from the camera if you put one in front of him.

Nope, he's a blue-collar type of player at heart, someone who will put his head down and go to work. He's the Royals' most dependable player outside of Bobby Witt Jr, and the engine that drives this offense.

I’m sure the man lives a very comfortable life outside the ballpark, but he’s had his fair share of bad breaks and bad luck in his MLB career.

He’s had to fight through adversity in the last few seasons, but that hasn’t stopped him from establishing himself as a household name in and outside of Kansas City.

He was having a career year in 2024 until he broke his thumb on a freak collision at first base. He only missed the last five weeks of the season and returned for the American League Wild Card round.

Last year, there was talk about him changing his swing to increase bat speed and whether that was good for him. Then he dealt with a nagging hamstring injury (if you follow college basketball, you know how fickle a hamstring injury can be) in Spring Training.

He got off to a slow start as a result, and the Royals’ offense followed suit. Yet again, he grinded his way back and eventually had that career season, blasting 32 homers and 113 RBI in 160 games.

Now, fresh off a new extension and more swag and confidence than he’s ever had, he’s showing everyone why he continues to beat the odds. Spring Training game number one gets underway today, and the Pasquatch knows how to get your blood flowing for baseball.

Pasquantino shows why he’s a clubhouse favorite with latest comments

In an interview with Jack Johnson, courtesy of Sports Radio 810, Vinnie got real when he was asked how he deals with pressure during the season.

All hitters go through slumps throughout the season, but is it better to “embrace the suck” and get through it, or overreact to the noise?

"I just don’t think you should run from the pressure," Pasquantino said. "I don’t think you should pretend like it’s not a thing; it is a thing."

"I think there’s naturally pressure in the major leagues because every game means so much, I can speak from that personally, my April was about as bad as it gets," he said.

"You look at it on the whole like, man, if I could’ve just done something in April, what could that have meant for the team? How many more wins could that have been?" he said.

Pasquantino was mired in a dreadful start in 2025, hitting .177 through March and April. It was no surprise that the Royals' offense was dead last in the Major Leagues in runs per game at the end of April.

He turned his season around, hitting .283 from May on through the end of the season, a testament to his ability to block out distractions and continue with his process. His Baseball Reference page says he's a .260 hitter with pop, so even in his cold stretches you have to believe that he'll get back on track.

When Vinnie Pasquantino speaks, it’s always worth it to lock in with what he’s saying. He’s one of the most insightful Royals players you’ll ever come across.

He carries intimate knowledge about his game and always seems to answer the tough questions with professionalism and a dose of plain candidness that is uncommon in this day and age.

He’s authentically himself no matter what, and that’s the mentality you have to have if you want to excel in a profession built on failure like baseball.

"In a perfect lineup, your lineup is full of Bobbies," Pasquantino said. "But if your lineup is full of Bobbies, somebody would still critique it, saying he doesn’t walk enough."

"You can’t do everything perfect and you just have to go with what you got," he said. "You rely on the front office to bring in the right groups of guys, and our jobs in the clubhouse is make that group work."

He understands how this game works. It's a result-driven business, no matter who you are. And that's exactly the voice every great clubhouse needs.