{"id":741558,"date":"2026-07-02T23:03:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T23:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/741558\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T23:03:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T23:03:28","slug":"insanely-ill-timed-dig-at-vinnie-pasquantino-seems-to-have-cursed-royals-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/741558\/","title":{"rendered":"Insanely ill-timed dig at Vinnie Pasquantino seems to have cursed Royals&#8217; offense"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5o\">In a statement that has become all to familiar this season, the Kansas City Royals are struggling. They now hold sole possession of the worst record in the American League and only a game separates them from the lowly Colorado Rockies for the worst record in all of baseball. And in their latest losing stretch, it&#8217;s been their offense that has struggled in particular.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5r\">Before losing six of their last seven games, while the win-loss column may not have reflected it, the Royals&#8217; offense was soaring. As one X user pointed out, while throwing the injured Vinnie Pasquantino under the bus in the process, the Royals <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ChanceLiebau\/status\/2069788397544022184?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">were leading the league virtually across the board<\/a> in numerous categories including runs, batting average, hard-hit rate and slugging percentage since the first baseman landed on the injured list.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Since Vinnie Pasquantino went down with a broken hamate, the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/Royals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">#Royals<\/a> are first in MLB in:<\/p>\n<p>Runs<br \/>Average<br \/>Slugging<br \/>ISO<br \/>Doubles<br \/>Hard-hit rate<br \/>Wins<\/p>\n<p>A blessing in disguise. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/oOtH3pq0qh\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/oOtH3pq0qh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chance Liebau (@ChanceLiebau) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ChanceLiebau\/status\/2069788397544022184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">June 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5x\">However what seems to happen from time-to-time with Twitter remarks like this is that reality comes to rear it&#8217;s ugly head. And in this case it did just that. Another X user pointed out days after this remark that <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SasquatchVinnie\/status\/2072145727757631971?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">the Royals had gone 1-5 since the post<\/a> and been outscored 62-16.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"60\">And that only proved more true after Wednesday&#8217;s game to open the new month, where the Royals were shutout 4-0 at home to the Tampa Bay Rays, raising their combined scoring deficit to 50 runs over the past seven games.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Since this post the Royals have gone 1-5 while being outscored 62-16. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pXMEYSkkpW\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/pXMEYSkkpW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sasquatch Vinnie (@SasquatchVinnie) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SasquatchVinnie\/status\/2072145727757631971?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 1, 2026<\/a>Offensive bright spots have been few and far between for Royals over past week<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"69\">After games of scoring 14 runs, 12 runs, 10 runs before this past week, the Royals offense has shriveled up entirely. And the big issue is that there&#8217;s been many glaring weak spots that were once strengths keeping them alive in a pretty wide open AL Wild Card race.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6c\">Jac Caglianone is no longer looking like the force he once was for much of June, posting a .130\/.167\/.217 with a -3 wRC+. Salvador Perez <a href=\"https:\/\/kingsofkauffman.com\/salvador-perez-s-season-capturing-royals-milestones-is-cushioning-his-fall-from-grace\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">continues to prove that his best days may very well be behind him<\/a>, posting a -20 wRC+ himself. Lane Thomas&#8217; trade value could be sinking with a -17 wRC+ himself this week. And Nick Loftin doesn&#8217;t appear to be the injury replacement extraordinaire that he&#8217;d been for much of the year, posting a -73 wRC+ this week, the lowest of any Royals hitter with 10+ plate appearances in that span.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6f\">Thankfully, Bobby Witt Jr. has returned from the IL admirably and looks like the AL MVP candidate he did before his brief injury and certainly worthy of <a href=\"https:\/\/kingsofkauffman.com\/3-reasons-royals-bobby-witt-jr-finally-deserves-his-first-all-star-starting-nod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the All-Star starting nod he seems to be the frontrunner for<\/a> at shortstop. This week he&#8217;s belted a pair of homers with four RBI, a .278\/.333\/.667 slash line and 159 wRC+ in five games. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6i\">Then, behind him, while it might not be much Witt isn&#8217;t entirely by himself. Carter Jensen <a href=\"https:\/\/kingsofkauffman.com\/lineup-protection-is-real-for-the-royals-and-carter-jensen-s-data-proves-it\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">has kept his hot streak rolling<\/a> with a 121 wRC+ this week, Isaac Collins has done a 180-degree shift on his dreadfully poor season with a .278\/.350\/.444 slash line and 120 wRC+ in his last 20 plate appearances. And if Thomas won&#8217;t look the part of a potential trade deadline asset, Starling Marte is looking strong in opportunities he&#8217;s getting, posting a .300 AVG, .762 OPS and 132 wRC+ in his last four games and 13 plate appearances.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">Still, four performers, with only two being regulars, is not nearly enough production for the Royals to look like a functional baseball team. And at this point, with the season looking more far gone by the day, that&#8217;s all fans can hope for at this point &#8211; just don&#8217;t look like the worst team in baseball.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6o\">Perhaps the Royals do in fact need Vinnie Pasquantino after all, because his absence certainly doesn&#8217;t look like &#8220;a blessing in disguise&#8221; anymore.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow kingsofkauffman.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=kingsofkauffman.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a statement that has become all to familiar this season, the Kansas City Royals are struggling. They&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2387],"tags":[5,936,2123,55,2596,2595,4,252],"class_list":["post-741558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kansas-city-royals","tag-baseball","tag-kansas","tag-kansas-city","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-kansascity","tag-kansascityroyals","tag-mlb","tag-royals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116852883701977915","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}