Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino was so excited after helping Team Italy beat Team Puerto Rico in Saturday’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarterfinal that he forgot who else was left in the tournament. The 28-year-old incorrectly excluded Team Venezuela when listing the remaining squads, via MLB On Fox.
“I don’t know how many people would’ve picked the Dominican Republic, Japan, the United States and Italy in the final four, but we’re here now… this is incredible, man,” he said.
Advertisement
Team Japan had still yet to play Venezuela in Saturday night’s quarterfinal, but Pasquantino apologized on social media before the first pitch.
“Tried to get this fixed after the fact but I’m sorry I excluded Venezuela,” he said. “Didn’t mean to [do] that. Looking forward to watching that game we all know it should be fireworks. My bad Team Venezuela. I still love you Maikel [Garcia], Sal [Salvador Perez], Luinder [Avila], and [Angel] Zerpa.”
Garcia, Perez, and Avila all play with Pasquantino on the Royals, and Zerpa was on the squad the past five seasons before it traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers in December. Perez is Venezuela’s captain, while Garcia and Zerpa were both key to the squad’s upset win over Japan. Garcia hit a double in the third inning and a two-run homer in the fifth before Zerpa pitched a scoreless seventh.
Advertisement
Venezuela won 8-5 and will now play Italy in Monday’s semifinal. Italy is the tournament’s Cinderella team, which is why Pasquantino said his original quote. The nation isn’t known for baseball, but the squad’s Italian-American MLB players are changing the narrative.
Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino (9) and outfielder Jac Caglianone (14). © Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
In addition to the aforementioned players, Kansas City outfielder Jac Caglianone starts for Italy. The 23-year-old is 4-for-11 with one homer, four RBIs, four walks, five runs, and one stolen base in the WBC thus far. His home run was a two-run shot to right in the fourth inning of Italy’s 8-6 win over Team USA on Tuesday, one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.
Advertisement
Pasquantino, who is Italy’s captain, had a slow start in the WBC before launching three homers in Wednesday’s 9-1 win over Mexico. The 2019 11th-round pick also hit an RBI single and walked twice in Saturday’s 8-6 victory over Puerto Rico.
Between Pasquantino, Caglianone, Garcia, and Perez, Royals fans will get to watch four of their team’s most important position players on Monday. If they’re lucky, Avila will pitch in relief for Venezuela as well. The 24-year-old got his first big-league call-up in August and notched a 1.29 ERA over 13 appearances last season.
Pasquantino and Garcia have established themselves as core pieces, while Caglianone and Avila will play their first full big-league season in 2026, health-permitting. Perez is in the latter half of his career, but he still notched 30 homers and 100 RBIs last year.
Monday’s game will start at 8:00 p.m. ET on FS1.
Advertisement
Â