Royals’ Vinnie Pasquantino wins top weekly AL award: a look at his historic run
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Vinnie Pasquantino earned AL Player of the Week after slugging six home runs.
- Pasquantino posted a .379 average and led MLB in slugging and total bases.
- Royals closed within three games of wild card as Pasquantino powered offense.
After an historic week, Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino was recognized with the highest weekly honor in the majors.
Pasquantino was named the American League Player of the Week. He joined Philadelphia Phillies starter Ranger Suarez — who won the National League honor — as the top players in the sport last week.
It’s the third time Pasquantino has won the award. He received top recognition in June and prior to that during the 2022 campaign. Last week, Pasquantino hit .379 (11-for-29) with six homers and 12 RBIs. He also led the majors in slugging percentage, OPS and total bases.
Pasquantino also recently joined Kansas City teammate Salvador Perez and retired Royals star Mike Sweeney as the organization’s only players to homer in five consecutive games. On Sunday, Pasquantino belted his 28th home run — his sixth in seven contests — against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
This season, Pasquantino leads the Royals in both home runs and RBIs.
“It’s definitely cool and it’s an honor to win the award,” Pasquantino said. “But we’ve got another game tonight. Not really a whole lot of time to be happy about it. So we’ve got to get ready for tonight.”
Pasquantino overcame a disappointing start to the season in recent months. He has batted .289 with 24 homers, 74 RBIs and an .873 OPS since May 1. In that span, the Royals have gone 51-48 and climbed within three games of the Seattle Mariners for the third and final spot in the AL wild-card race.
The Royals rely on Pasquantino to ignite their offense. He has fit well between the All-Star duo of Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia in the KC lineup. He is seeing better pitches at the plate and making adjustments to do damage.
Recently, Pasquantino regained his rhythm for hitting fastballs. It’s allowed him to stay on-time and drive the baseball to all fields. A slight change for the better has led to more power and the red-hot stretch he is currently riding.
“You saw at some point in the homestand when he started getting back on the fastball and then he was on the breaking stuff, too,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “It’s because he was ready to hit and able to adjust.”
Pasquantino continues chasing Royals history, too. He ranks fourth behind Mike Moustakas (38 homers), John Mayberry (34) and George Brett (30) for the most home runs by a Royals left-handed hitter in a single season.
He is also just two shy of the Royals’ record for home runs in August and needs to drive in just four more runs to tie Sweeney for most RBIs in August.
“It’s just one of those things that you see on the TV and everybody says congrats,” Pasquantino said. “Then you move on. It’s a cool thing and cool to celebrate with everybody.”
