Royals Position Players Standing Out in Various Ways in World Baseball Classic – Royals

The World Baseball Classic is reaching the end of Pool Play, as many teams have already punched their tickets to the knockout rounds (including Japan and South Korea). The Royals are well-represented in the WBC, with 10 players participating, as highlighted on the Royals’ social media (though they didn’t have Luinder Avila, a late addition to the Venezuelan roster who may have missed the official WBC media day). 

I already talked about the performance of Royals starting pitchers in Pool Play (specifically focusing on Puerto Rico’s Seth Lugo and USA’s Michael Wacha). However, I have not talked yet about the hitters, who are even more well-represented in the WBC. Five of the Royals’ core position players for 2026 (Bobby Witt Jr., Salvador Perez, Maikel Garcia, Vinnie Pasquantino, and Jac Caglianone) are participating in the WBC for their respective countries.

Let’s break down the performances thus far of those Royals position players and identify what fans can expect from the five, not just for the remainder of the World Baseball Classic but also for the upcoming MLB season. 

Witt Showing Plate Patience, Speed on Basepaths, and Incredible Defense

Witt has played in two games so far in pool play: against Brazil in game one and on Monday night against Mexico in game four. Manager Mark DeRosa opted for Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson at shortstop in game two against Great Britain, and the move paid off for Team USA as Henderson went 4-for-5. 

DeRosa has primarily put Witt in the leadoff spot, and the results have been mostly positive for the Royals’ franchise player.

On one hand, he’s hitting .333 with a .1.056 OPS in nine at-bats. He went 2-for-4 with two doubles in the Mexico game, and he just missed out on a homer in his second at-bat. Against Mexico’s Manny Barreda, he hit an 85.2 MPH slider 385 feet with an exit velocity of 103.9 MPH. Here’s a look at the spray chart of that particular flyball out.

If Witt pulled that one just a little bit more, it’s probably gone, especially in Daikin Park’s hitter-friendly confines. Furthermore, Witt did what he was supposed to do on a hanging slider from Barreda, which was located in a meaty part of the zone, as illustrated in his zone chart below via Savant.

Thankfully for Barreda and Mexico, he threw that pitch to Spring Training Witt. If he threw that to in-season Witt, it’s probably gone and hit a lot further as well. 

In his third at-bat against Alex Carrillo, he didn’t miss. He launched a double with a 105.8 MPH exit velocity on a hanging slider, similar to the one he saw from Barreda. 

Perhaps this double is the breakthrough Witt needed to get going on the hitting end of things in the World Baseball Classic. He seemed to confirm that thought with another double in the 8th inning. This one had an exit velocity of 100.8 MPH off Mexico reliever Robert Garcia. 

In a short time in the WBC, Witt has done what he’s supposed to do as a leadoff hitter: get on base and steal bases. He has a .500 OBP with two walks and only one strikeout. He also has three stolen bases on three attempts.

The Royals have been a little rusty on the basepaths in Spring Training, so to see Witt in base-thieving form is a nice development. After stealing 49 bases in 2023, Witt stole 31 in 2024 and 38 in 2025. It would be nice to see Witt get back to the 40-SB mark in 2026. His start in the WBC shows that he may be capable of doing so, especially if manager Matt Quatraro is open to putting Witt in the leadoff spot in the batting order. 

Lastly, Witt demonstrated against Mexico why he won the Platinum Glove for the Royals last year. He made not one, but two incredible plays that few, if any other MLB shortstops could make (though don’t say that to Orioles fans).

Here’s the first play Witt made against catcher Alejandro Kirk. 

Unbelievable. And for those who said, “Well, Kirk is a slow runner”, let’s take a look at what he did on a similarly hit groundball by Nick Gonzales (who is much faster than Kirk, though that’s not hard).

Witt may have gotten off to a slow start in the WBC, but he seems to be getting settled at shortstop for Team USA.

That would be a scary development for the rest of the WBC competition, especially in the knockout rounds.  

Big Hits From Salvy and Maikel

Venezuela is 2-0 in pool play and may be on their way to 3-0, as they are up 4-0 on Nicaragua in the seventh inning on Monday. Garcia and Perez both played in Venezuela’s first two games, but got the day off in game three (though Garcia entered on Monday for Luis Arraez). 

Perez is the captain of Team Venezuela, and as with the Royals, he’s the heart and soul of the team. He’s gotten off to a strong start with his home country, as he is hitting .333 with a .666 OPS in nine at-bats. He has three hits, all singles, and one RBI. His lone RBI was a big one against Israel, tying the game and sparking a rally.

Even though Perez got the night off against Nicaragua, he will be a key part of this lineup for Venezuela in the knockout rounds.

It’s been a bit of a different story for Garcia, who is playing in his first WBC after his breakout season in 2025. The Royals’ third baseman started the first two games of pool play but is hitting .200 with a .400 OPS in 10 at-bats. He also has three strikeouts and no walks, though all three of his strikeouts came in a rough game against Israel. 

In his first three plate appearances in his second WBC game, Garcia was having a brutal performance, striking out in each at-bat against an Israel team that was eventually eliminated from the knockout stage. However, he gathered himself to produce a big two-RBI single with the bases loaded that extended Venezuela’s lead in the sixth inning.

That ability to bounce back with a big hit after striking out three times is the kind of adjustment Garcia made from 2024 to 2025. The 2024 version of Garcia would’ve struck out again or gotten a lazy ground or fly out. The 2025 version can put those bad at-bats behind him and produce a solid base hit in a hitter’s count. That shows Garcia’s maturity over the past year. 

The 26-year-old Royals infielder also has a stolen base and has shown solid defense at the hot corner, albeit in a small sample. While Garcia’s overall stat line isn’t great, he was really hurt by one bad game (Israel), so I’ll be curious to see how he does for the remainder of the tournament. 

Struggles at the Plate for Vinnie and Jac

Italy has gotten off to a strong start, as they are currently 2-0 in pool play. Furthermore, they have been a darling of the WBC, especially with their espresso shot celebration after home runs (served by none other than Pasquantino). 

Unfortunately, the numbers haven’t been all that great so far for either Vinnie or Cags through two games.

The Italy captain hasn’t gotten a hit in seven at-bats and has an OPS of .300. He has three walks to zero strikeouts, which is good, as he became a little free-swinging last year. His 30.4% O-Swing% ranked in the 34th percentile last year, according to TJ Stats. Thus, seeing Pasquantino show some patience and avoid strikeouts has been nice, even if he hasn’t gotten a base hit yet in this WBC.

Caglianone has played only one game in the WBC, sitting out game two against Great Britain. In his lone start, he went 1-for-4 with an RBI double. That said, his base hit may have been more due to lackluster defense from Dante Bichette Jr. from Team Brazil (even Cags initially thought it was going to be a groundout). 

One of the positive developments for Caglianone in Spring Training was his plate patience, something he struggled with in his rookie year. In 2025, he had a 38.5% O-Swing%, which ranked in the bottom fifth percentile, and a 51.3% Swing%, which ranked in the 75th percentile. Cags swung too much last year, especially on pitches outside of the strike zone.

In Spring Training, those metrics reverse, as seen below via his Statcast summary from TJ Stats.

In 30 Cactus League plate appearances, he had a 21.4% O-Swing% and 38.9% Swing%. Those numbers ranked in the 75th and 16th percentiles, respectively. As a result, he posted a .375 average and 1.125 OPS in Cactus League play prior to heading out of Arizona for the WBC.

Against Brazil, Caglianone was way too overeager, and that can be seen in his pitch description chart from his only WBC appearance. 

In four at-bats, he’s seen a total of seven pitches. Of those seven pitches, he’s swung at five of them. Yes, he has that RBI double on his WBC resume. However, he also hit into three field outs, all coming on those pitches up and in and early in the count. 

It seems like Cags is a bit amped up from the WBC experience, which has made him a bit impatient in his approach. He has made a lot of progress this spring, so hopefully he can get back into that patient mindset he had in Arizona during the remainder of Italy’s WBC tenure.