The Royals announced their Wild Card Series roster this morning, revealing within that first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino is being reinstated from the injured list. He’ll be back in the middle of the Kansas City lineup taking on Orioles ace Corbin Burnes in today’s Game 1 matchup.
It’s a rapid return for Pasquantino, who suffered a broken thumb back on Aug. 29 and was originally projected for a recovery period of six to eight weeks. He’ll instead return to the lineup in about five weeks’ time and jump right back into the fray without the benefit of a rehab assignment.
There’s some obvious risk for rust or lingering effects of that fractured digit, but the Royals are surely thrilled to have one of their best hitters cleared to take the field. The 26-year-old Pasquantino hit .262/.315/.446 (108 wRC+) this season and ranked third on the team with 19 homers and 97 runs plated. He’s the toughest strikeout among Royals regulars, too, fanning in a tiny 12.8% of his trips to the plate this season.
Pasquantino’s ahead-of-schedule return will effectively squeeze Robbie Grossman off the team’s postseason roster, at least for this round. Kansas City is going with 11 pitchers and 15 position players. Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha are lined up to start the three games, with a contingent of Kris Bubic, Lucas Erceg, Sam Long, Michael Lorenzen, Daniel Lynch IV, John Schreiber, Brady Singer and Angel Zerpa available in relief. They’ll carry eight infielders (Pasquantino, Paul DeJong, Adam Frazier, Maikel Garcia, Yuli Gurriel, Garrett Hampson, Michael Massey and Bobby Witt Jr.) in addition to five outfielders (Dairon Blanco, Kyle Isbel, MJ Melendez, Tommy Pham, Hunter Renfroe) and their two catchers (Freddy Fermin, Salvador Perez).