Royals 1B Vinnie Pasquantino Talks Wild Card Round, ALDS & NLDS with Rich

Vinnie Pasquantino is home for October, and he is watching every pitch he can. The Royals first baseman has agreed to zoom into The Rich Eisen Show here and there throughout the postseason, and his first visit was exactly what you want from a player-analyst: honest about the front office, sharp on matchups and unwilling to make predictions about teams where he has friends.

His sports loyalties were on the wall, too. Pasquantino has a signed Vinny Testaverde Miami Hurricanes jersey hanging behind him, a nod to the reason he is a Jets fan. He had been at the Predators game the night before, too. "Watch them lose," he said. "I've watched a lot of teams lose here lately."

Then it was down to business, starting with the decision that ended Boston's season.

Red Sox manager Chad Tracy, no longer interim and now the full-time skipper, pulled Sonny Gray after 70 pitches. Rich could not understand removing an 18-game winner and arguably one of the best pitchers in either league. After the game, Willson Contreras was asked about it and simply zipped his mouth shut.

Pasquantino said the players and staff "definitely feel a certain way about it." His larger point was about what analytics are actually for. "The point of it is to get you through 162 games, not a three-game set," he said. "So they're using the same model they would use in July or May." In a must-win game, he explained, teams fall back on what they know, which is playing the matchups. It is not just the manager, either. He imagines a whole team of people in the office discussing the game script after every game.

"There's a piece of it you respect," he said. But as a player, "you want to trust your guy" that you are paying $25 million and traded for last year. "That's why you traded for him, is for moments like this."

Rich asked whether the model treats players like cookie cutters. "That's what they want us to be, though," Pasquantino said. Teams want players to fall in line and do their job, and they teach it that way through the minor leagues. Part of the logic is good: take the emotion out and put hitters in advantage situations. The problem comes when the stakes rise. "A lot of teams don't bunt throughout the year and then all of a sudden these big games happen and you're asking guys to bunt," he said. "Baseball's not really built for short game series, but that's how you determine who a champion is."

On the chatter about Gray repeatedly touching the back of his neck, Pasquantino spoke from experience. He has faced Gray for years and said Gray always goes to his neck. It could easily have been rosin and dirt sticking to sweat. He declined to speculate further, but he did his homework. "His spin rate was not any different than it was in the regular season," he said. "I don't think it's too big of a cause for concern."

Then Rich asked how real the White Sox are, the last team with Sox in its name still playing.

Pasquantino's answer flipped his analytics point on its head. If most teams are built for the long season, the White Sox "are built for these series because they just go to that bullpen." Casual fans may not recognize the names, he said, but having faced them, "it's uncomfortable at-bats."

He gave credit, reluctantly, to their pitching coach, Zach Bove, who was with the Royals the past few years. "He knows I don't want to give him any credit," Pasquantino said, before doing exactly that. Bove does a nice job with game planning and with pitchers' movement profiles, making it tough for hitters to match up to the different planes they throw on.

Bryan Hudson and Anthony Kay got mentions, and he and called Grant Taylor "one of the best arms in the league." The White Sox do not really have a closer, he said, but Taylor would be the guy.

The catch is the opponent. "If anybody knows them, it's Cleveland," he said, since the teams played all year. He expects the series to go five and stay tight throughout. "Whoever plays the little things better is going to win that series, which typically would go to Cleveland in that regard. But I do think the White Sox are alive in the series for sure."

Rich wondered if Brewers-Padres was a series where you had to lead by the fourth inning or it was over. Pasquantino agreed it will be brutal. He recalled facing Clay Holmes and Luke Weaver every night against the Yankees in 2024. San Diego has Mason Miller at the back end, and the plan against Jacob Misiorowski would be to get him out early, except then Aaron Ashby comes in throwing 100 mph sinkers from the left side. "It's going to be 2-1, 3-1 tight games throughout," he said, calling it the series most likely to make "your heart hurt a little bit."

Pasquantino also explained what players are doing on those dugout tablets. Not Minecraft, he assured Rich. They are looking at their swings from multiple camera angles, plus an ABS view of every pitch. Pasquantino checks the inning after his at-bat but avoids too much video mid-game. "Once the bet is made, you might as well just go out there and compete."

Then came Yankees-Rays. Pasquantino said division series between teams that know each other this well are tough, and playing at the Trop helps Tampa. He pointed to the Rays throwing the most same-side changeups in the league, with closer Bryan Baker and Nick Martinez at the back end. "They can pronate with the best of them," he said, which means really getting on top of those changeups and making hitters uncomfortable.

As for Aaron Judge, Pasquantino was cautious, assuming he would not play. Bringing back even the best player in the league after time away is hard, and asking him to play the outfield on turf would be tougher. "You got the contact of the Rays versus the power of the Yankees," he said, with Gerrit Cole, Cam Schlittler and Max Fried likely starting for New York. Who wins? "I don't want to make predictions, Rich. Some of these I've got friends on these teams."

He was more willing to talk about the Dodgers and Braves. Rich asked if Los Angeles would rather face Atlanta than Philadelphia. Pasquantino thinks the Dodgers are concerned, but they avoid the Phillies' top-end starters, Jesús Luzardo, Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. That matters for left-handed hitters like Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman. Atlanta still has Chris Sale and Grant Holmes, he noted. But the Dodgers beat the Phillies last year and "they're not really worried about anything." Their season has now started. "I'm sure they're just looking forward to not be doing intersquads at Dodger Stadium anymore."

The quirky postseason schedule came up too, with the Yankees and Rays playing Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Pasquantino lived it in New York in 2024, when an off Sunday sent the Royals to a bar to watch football. He gets that it is money-related, but "it does throw off your rhythm a little bit."

And no, he never got a letter from the Pope. Team Italy was honored at the United Nations, though, and he knows the head of Italian baseball, Marco Mazzieri, gave the Pope a Team Italy hat. Rich noted that his son Cooper, who may love the World Baseball Classic more than the commissioner does, has a favorite on that White Sox roster: Sam Antonacci.