Royals’ Vinnie Pasquantino has seen bat speed jump. He’s unsure that’s a good thing
Like many of his teammates, Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino is off to a slow start to the 2025 season.
Pasquantino’s average (.200), on-base percentage (.284) and slugging percentage (.638) are all the lowest of his career, while his strikeout percentage is the highest (14.9%). One big caveat: It’s still early. Heck, he’s only played in 18 games.
While on the MLB Network earlier this week, one increase in Pasquantino’s metrics was discussed: his bat speed. Pasquantino’s average bat speed is 74.3 mph, an increase of 2.6 mph from the 2024 season.
That’s the fourth largest jump in Major League Baseball this season. But Pasquantino isn’t necessarily sure that’s a positive.
“I got stronger in the offseason,” Pasquantino noted. “There wasn’t any concerted effort to just increase the bat speed. I’m trying to figure out if this is a good thing for me or not, because I’ve started to swing and miss a little bit more. I’ve started to chase a little bit more this year, and I’m wondering if I’m trying too hard.
“So there’s a piece of it where it’s like, ‘Am I over-swinging?’ It’s something we’re walking through right now of, ‘Where am I at my best?’ We’ve started to look at some bat speed models from the past few years of, ‘OK, where’s my honey hole.’ In a vacuum, swinging fast, great.”
Pasquantino was asked if the increased bat speed might be affecting when he connects with a ball in the zone. He noted that in Monday’s loss to the Yankees, there was a ball that had a 108 mph exit velocity off his bat.
Unfortunately it was nowhere near to being hit in fair territory.
“I don’t really want to do that,” Pasquantino acknowledged. “It was a 2-0 count. So I’m ready to rip. I’m ready to go and got the pitch that I thought I wanted and hit it foul. So it was one of those things where it’s like, well, maybe there’s a piece of it where there’s too much effort on trying to be too quick and it might not necessarily be the bat speed itself, but it’s the effort of trying to get out front and do some damage, as opposed to letting it come to me and doing damage when it gets there.”
This was an interesting discussion about the potential cons of a hitter having an increased bat speed.
This story was originally published April 17, 2025 at 11:37 AM.
