Is Vinnie Pasquantino Becoming Unplayable Against Lefty Pitchers? – Royals

The Kansas City Royals lost their sixth-straight game on Saturday, falling to their I-70 rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2. The Royals now have a 19-27 record and not only sit in last place in the AL Central but are also 5.5 games behind the division-leading Cleveland Guardians.

There are many issues with the Royals right now. The starting pitching has regressed heavily in May (they rank 24th in SP ERA this month, according to Fangraphs). The bullpen has been better, but remains inconsistent (they rank 22nd in bullpen ERA). Lastly, they have not seen much stability in the lineup beyond Bobby Witt Jr., who is making his case for an AL MVP bid despite the Royals’ struggles. 

Unfortunately, one of the biggest issues related to the Royals’ lineup has been the performance of their regular No. 3 hitter, Vinnie Pasquantino. 

There’s a lot to be said about Pasquantino, who launched 32 home runs, collected 113 RBI, hit .264, posted a 116 wRC+, and accumulated a 1.5 fWAR in 682 plate appearances last year, a career-high. The Royals agreed to a modest extension with him for the 2026-2027 seasons ($11.1 million), and it seemed like Pasquantino was going to continue to be a force in the Royals lineup this year. 

Unfortunately, that’s been far from the case for Pasquantino.

In 189 plate appearances, Vinnie is hitting .201 with a .627 OPS. He also has five home runs, 18 runs scored, 22 RBI, and a wOBA of .278. When it comes to his Statcast percentiles, they haven’t been impressive, though he has been walking more (10.8%) than he did a season ago.

When looking at Pasquantino’s Statcast percentiles via TJ Stats, there’s not much to be encouraged by. The good thing is that he’s making a good amount of contact, drawing a decent amount of walks, and pulling the ball in the air quite a bit. However, the bat speed and exit velocity metrics aren’t great, and while the barrel rate is okay (53rd percentile), the hard-hit rate (29th percentile) and launch angle sweet spot percentage (33.6%) have not been. 

Thus, Pasquantino’s outlook for the remainder of 2026 looks hazy based on these factors, though his xwOBA trend seems to hint that he’s on the upswing after a brutal start to the season. 

Therefore, what should Royals fans expect from Vinnie, hitting-wise, for the remainder of 2026? While he’s trending positively, will it be enough to come close to what he did a season ago? 

A lot will depend on his performance against lefties and whether that improves anytime soon this year. 

Vinnie’s Brutal Splits Against Lefties This Year

One of the big issues with Pasquantino is that he just isn’t hitting left-handed pitchers well in 2026.

In 53 plate appearances, Vinnie is slashing .120/.170/.160 with a .330 OPS against left-handed pitchers. He has zero home runs, just six hits overall, and two walks to 16 strikeouts. He is also posting a -10 wRC+ against lefties, according to Fangraphs. Of Royals hitters with five or more plate appearances this year, only Michael Massey has been worse against lefties (-12). Furthermore, Jac Caglianone (59 wRC+) and Carter Jensen (49 wRC+), two hitters who have seen the bench against left-handed starting pitchers, have been considerably better against southpaws than Pasquantino.

On a positive note, his performance against righties has been productive. 

In 136 plate appearances, he is slashing .237/.331/.421 with a .752 OPS. All five of his home runs have come against righties, and he has 18 walks to 20 strikeouts. That 0.90 BB/K ratio is significantly better than the 0.13 BB/K ratio he is producing against lefties this season, which shows his approach and plate discipline are much better against righties. 

Lastly, here’s what his Statcast splits look like against lefties and righties this year, according to TJ Stats.

As Royals fans can see above, Pasquantino has been brutal against lefties, especially in the exit velocity, hard-hit, xwOBA, and LA Sweet-Spot% categories. All those rank in the 1st percentile this year, which is as bad as it gets. His barrel rate against lefties ranks in the 10th percentile at 3.0%. That’s not great either, though not as putrid as his other Statcast categories.

Another big concern against lefties is that he’s just not making contact against them, either, the opposite of what we’re seeing from Vinnie against righties. 

Against righties, his whiff% ranks in the 92nd percentile, his Z-Contact% ranks in the 94th percentile, and his K% ranks in the 82nd percentile. Conversely, against lefties, his whiff% ranks in the 44th percentile, his Z-Contact% ranks in the 14th percentile, and his K% ranks in the 7th percentile. It’s one thing not to hit the ball with pop against lefties. However, to not even hit the ball at all? That’s a huge red flag, especially for a hitter who was expected to be key at the top of the batting order.

Now, is this a trend for Vinnie or just the product of a slow start? 

The career data doesn’t suggest a major turnaround is to be expected anytime soon.

In 478 plate appearances against lefties over his career, Pasquantino is slashing .231/.286/.357 with a .644 OPS and 76 wRC+. That is a far cry from his career .269/.339/.475 slash and .813 OPS and 123 wRC+ against righties. Even when comparing this season against lefties to 2025 in terms of Statcast percentiles, while he was better against lefties a year ago, it wasn’t dramatically different. 

The main difference is that the Whiff% (70th percentile) and Z-Contact% (71st percentile) were much better in 2025 than in 2026. However, the barrel (37th percentile), hard-hit rate (46th percentile), and LA Sweet-Spot% (5th percentile) were only marginally better. 

Thus, I don’t predict a big enough turnaround from Vinnie against lefties this year that would justify everyday at-bats from him, especially in the No. 3 spot in the batting order, from now on.

What’s the Solution With Vinnie? (And What’s the Domino Effect On the Lineup?)

The reality is that manager Matt Quatraro probably has to start limiting Pasquantino’s at-bats against lefties, which means that he’s a guy who may be sitting against southpaw starting pitchers. While that’s a tough pill to swallow, it’s necessary, especially since his overall Statcast percentiles this year just aren’t where they were a season ago, as shown below by TJ Stats.

Vinnie isn’t hitting the ball as hard and launching the ball less this year. For that to improve, he needs more at-bats against pitchers he succeeds against. Unfortunately, that’s righties, not lefties.

A solution for the Royals would be to maybe platoon Vinnie at first with Salvador Perez. While Perez’s .195 average and .560 OPS are pretty brutal, he’s actually been better against lefties than righties this year. 

In 50 plate appearances against lefties, Perez is slashing .227/.300/.409 with a .709 OPS and two home runs. He also has three walks to nine strikeouts against southpaws. In 135 plate appearances against righties, he’s slashing .185/.207/.300 with a .507 OPS and four home runs. Yes, he’s hitting more home runs, but his plate approach has been far worse, as evidenced by his three walks to 32 strikeouts. 

The Statcast percentiles also support that Salvy is making better contact and showing better plate discipline and swing decisions against lefties as well.

Against righties, Salvy’s xwOBA is .258, which ranks in the 4th percentile. Against lefties? His xwOBA is .389, which ranks in the 85th percentile. He is also launching the ball considerably better against lefties (40%) than righties (30.9%), hitting the ball harder (51.4% hard-hit rate against lefties; 37.1% against righties), and barreling more balls as well (11.4% barrel rate against lefties; 8.2% against righties). 

Thus, Quatraro could bench Vinnie against lefties and let Salvy play first in those scenarios, with Elias Diaz or Jensen getting the starts behind the plate in those situations. Against righties, Salvy may need to concede some games to Jensen, especially since Jensen has been a much better hitter against righties this year than Salvy.

I am not saying that Salvy shouldn’t play against righties at all. Though it may not be enough to help him match what he did in 2025 or 2024, I think a positive swing could be on the way. Perez’s presence is still important both at the plate and behind the plate. 

However, it should at the very least be a 50-50 split with Jensen and Perez against righties, and I think Perez should cede at-bats at DH against righties to Starling Marte, who’s actually proven to be much better against righties this year than lefties, according to the Statcast percentile data via TJ Stats.

Marte doesn’t offer much upside, especially at 37 years old. However, with a .356 wOBA and .339 xwOBA against righties, I think he deserves more at-bats than what he’s getting currently. At designated hitter, his age and defense are less of a liability.

The problem offensively with the Royals goes beyond Vinnie, and, as Royals fans can see, benching Pasquantino has a domino effect on the rest of this lineup. However, the writing is on the wall: Vinnie isn’t good against lefties, and he needs more days off against them, much to the chagrin of “Pasquatch” fans. 

Detroit manager A.J. Hinch benches Colt Keith and Kerry Carpenter, both very good and important players, against lefties, and it’s produced encouraging overall results over the past couple of seasons.

It’s time for Quatraro to apply a similar approach with Pasquantino.