Vinnie Pasquantino put poor spring training start behind him with massive WBC night

Kansas City Royals fans were treated to quite spectacle on Wednesday night in the World Baseball Classic after Vinnie Pasquantino went on a tear during Italy's game against Mexico, belting three homers to boost them to a 9-1 Pool B clinching victory.

For the night, the Royals first baseman went 3-for-4 with an outstanding trio of homers, three RBI and a walk.

Not only did this game serve as the long-awaited breakout for the Pasquatch in the WBC, having gone 0-for-12 in the tournament before Wednesday's standout performance, but it was also a long-awaited spring breakout in general, as he didn't exactly get off the hottest of starts in Royals camp before joining the Italian team.

Vinnie Pasquantino's three-homer night in WBC gives him much needed spring momentum ahead of 2026 season

When Pasquantino arrived in Houston to suit up for Team Italy, he did so coming off an incredible 32 HR and 113 RBI season with the Royals in 2025.

That sort of overshadowed the fact that he was also entering the WBC coming off an underwhelming start to his 2026 spring training. In 17 plate appearances across six Cactus League outings, Pasquantino was slashing just .200/.294/.267 with one RBI, an abnormal K-rate above 20.0% (23.5%) and just a 56 wRC+.

Now, trying to draw any concrete conclusions out of spring training with a player of Pasquantino's caliber, let alone in the early stages of spring, is never entirely wise.

However, when you compare his performance to other Royals regulars heading to the WBC, such as Bobby Witt Jr. (231 wRC+), Maikel Garcia (127 wRC+), Salvador Perez (110 wRC+) and his Italian teammate Jac Caglianone (234 wRC+), a performance like this is certainly worth noting at the very least.

That being said, any poor statistics in the spring camp suddenly seem significantly inferior to a home run hat-trick in a major league ballpark against the Mexican pitching staff - a team who happens to be the reigning third place finishers in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Pasquantino now has the opportunity to take his momentum a step further, with a quarterfinal date with Puerto Rico set for Saturday. Then, on top of potential further WBC matchups, he'll return to spring training at it's late pivotal stages before the Royals get set to open their season on March 27 in Atlanta against the Braves.