Vinnie Pasquantino DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino smashed his second home run of the season on Saturday as part of a nice 3-for-4 performance that picked his batting average up to .212 with a .291 wOBA. Vinnie P. has started the season slowly for the Royals but had a big day Saturday. His fourth-inning blast was the only run the team could put on the board against Luis L. Ortiz, though, and ultimately, the Royals lost to Cleveland, 6-3. Both teams are hovering right around .500, headed into the series finale on Sunday, where the Royals will look to avoid the road sweep. Pasquantino will hope this home run is the start of a power surge since he had just a 30.2% hard-hit rate coming into Saturday's game after posting over a 40% hard-hit rate in each of the last three seasons.

Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino is not in the starting lineup when the Royals continue a series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday evening. Pasquantino has been in the lineup for each of the first four games of the regular season. He was in danger of missing Opening Day due to a hamstring injury, but was able to recover in time. On Tuesday, the Royals will give Cavan Biggio the start at first base. Through his first four games, Pasquantino has held a .214/.333/.643 slash line with one double, one triple, and one long ball. He has tallied four RBI and held a 2:2 BB:K. Fantasy managers should expect Pasquantino to return to the starting nine on Wednesday when the Royals will face Milwaukee ace Freddy Peralta.

Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino (hamstring) is in the Opening Day lineup. Pasquantino will serve as the designated hitter and bat in the three-hole behind Jonathan India and Bobby Witt Jr. Pasquantino suffered a Grade 1-plus hamstring strain earlier in the week but has been cleared to serve as a DH. Fantasy managers should continue to monitor his status as the Royals may opt to ease him into defensive work. During spring training, Pasquantino posted a .208/.216/.417 slash line with four doubles and two home runs across 17 games. Last season, the 27-year-old logged a career-high 131 contests and held a .262/.315/.446 slash line with 19 long balls. He showed an elite eye at the plate with a 12.8 percent strikeout rate and generated a solid .331 xwOBA. He carries high RBI upside batting behind Witt and is a solid play in DFS facing Cleveland right-hander Tanner Bibee.

Kansas City Royals manager Matt Quatraro said that first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino (hamstring) is feeling good and will go through a full workout on Wednesday. The Royals will then re-evaluate him on Thursday morning to determine if he'll be in the starting lineup on Opening Day on Thursday versus the visiting Cleveland Guardians and right-hander Tanner Bibee. Pasquantino suffered a Grade 1-plus hamstring strain in spring training last weekend and is up in the air to be ready for Opening Day. In a worst-case scenario, the 27-year-old left-handed slugger will begin on the injured list and miss the first six games of the season. In that case, some combination of Salvador Perez, Mark Canha and Cavan Biggio would fill in at first base. If Pasquantino is in Thursday's lineup, he should be started in fantasy, as he's hit two homers off Bibee in just eight career at-bats.

Although Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino's (hamstring) status for Opening Day on Thursday against the division-rival Cleveland Guardians is in question after he picked up a Grade 1-plus right-hamstring strain in spring training on Saturday, he said he plans on playing on Thursday. The 27-year-old isn't a speed player, so a slight hamstring pull doesn't affect him as much, and he could be deployed as the designated hitter to begin the year. The Royals are off on Friday, although the team could back-date a 10-day injured list stint three days, meaning he could return as soon as April 2. Pasquantino won't play in the two exhibition games against the Rangers on Monday and Tuesday, but he hit in the cages on Monday "without feeling the hamstring at all," manager Matt Quatraro said. If he can up the intensity of his swings on Tuesday without feeling pain, he could be cleared to start on Thursday.