History will rightly identify the 2024 season as a magical one for the Royals, who became the first team in MLB history to lose 106 games and make the playoffs a year later.
But within this year, was one of those frightening old German fairy tales .
It came on Aug. 29 when Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino’s right thumb was broken on a freak collision in Houston. The Royals’ offense was never the same after he was hurt.
The Royals finished 13th in Major League Baseball in runs scored in 2024, but they were last in that category in September with Pasquantino sidelined. They also suffered through two long losing streaks without him in the lineup.
Pasquantino, who was expected to miss six weeks, instead returned for the AL Wild Card round and batted .286 in Baltimore. He had one of the three RBIs for the Royals in the two-game series.
Against the Yankees in the American League Division Series, Pasquantino was 1 for 16 with a walk and an RBI. He couldn’t definitively identify when (or if) he got his timing back in the postseason.
“Tough to say because it was such a bad series for me personally,” Pasquantino said. “I felt like I put a few balls in play pretty good or hit a few balls foul well, and then the end of the at-bat would be garbage. So I don’t know if I can say that I got it back, but I don’t think that’s an excuse for why I had such a tough series. I just think I didn’t play good enough.”
Pasquantino emphasized that he didn’t return just to play in the postseason.
“I really fully believe that I was healthy enough,” Pasquantino said. “I don’t want to be the guy who says, ‘Oh, I was hurt,’ after the fact.”
Inside Pasquantino’s recovery
Following surgery on Sept. 3, Pasquantino was certain his season was over , regardless of whether the Royals made the postseason. His thumb looked plain ugly. But that didn’t stop him from doing what he could to return to the lineup.
When he was added the postseason roster before the Wild Card series, it was a jolt of good news for the Royals.
“It was a huge emotional lift to get him back, and good for him, that was a long shot,” manager Matt Quatraro said Thursday night. “The way he went about it, the way he just really got after it from the minute he got hurt, probably uncomfortably so, his hand was broken.
“But to come back and show that fight and the fortitude to do that, that shows who he is as a person, and the team respects the heck out of him.”
Pasquantino, who was third on the Royals in home runs (19) and RBIs (97), said the bone in the lower part of his thumb was fractured.
He used special equipment when holding a bat in the postseason.
“I had a thing ... on the grip of the bat, like a vibration pad that gave me some separation,” Pasquantino said. “Early in the series, I had to wear it at the four- to five-week mark (following surgery). I had a gel pad on top to give me more space.
“And then I was trying to finish (a swing) with one hand. But I’m not a one-hand finisher, so I was like, ‘If I’m gonna do this, I gotta do it as normal as I can.’ There were some moments where I felt it, but ... it didn’t affect anything really.”
Pasquantino was the Royals’ designated hitter for all six postseason games, but in the timetable for his recovery, he would have put the glove back on his right hand if KC had advanced to the American League Championship Series. If all went well, he may have ended up playing first base again.
But the Royals didn’t advance largely because the offense could never get back on track. Against the Yankees, the Royals scored in just three of their final 30 innings. Pasquantino drove in the lone run Thursday in the Royals’ 3-1 loss to the Yankees in Game 4 of the ALDS.
“We did what we could,” Pasquantino said. “It wasn’t enough. I don’t think anybody in this room is satisfied. But, you know, we got to this point, it sucks that we’re not continuing.”
Looking ahead to 2025
Pasquantino played in 131 games this season, his third in the majors. A year ago, he underwent surgery for a torn labrum in his right shoulder and didn’t play after June 9.
Although his thumb was broken on an unlikely collision this year, Pasquantino is determined to play a full season in 2025.
“It’s something that’s gonna bother me for a while if I can’t get this figured out,” he said. “This year was more of a freak thing. But I gotta be better. I’ve got to go back to the drawing board to figure out something to be available for 162. Things are gonna come up throughout the year, and just (being) able to be available, it’s definitely a massive goal of mine throughout this offseason. (I’ll) look at some things, see what I can do better and go from there.”
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