Pasquantino activated from IL, available off bench for Orioles series opener

BALTIMORE – Less than a month after a painful swing that ended up breaking the hamate bone in his right hand, Vinnie Pasquantino returned to the Royals’ active roster on Friday night ahead of their opener against the Orioles at Camden Yards.

Pasquantino had been on the 10-day injured list since June 14, and he underwent surgery that day to remove the fractured hamate bone from his hand. The expected timeline for a return was four to six weeks, but Pasquantino was able to return just under the four-week mark. He played in three rehab games earlier this week with Triple-A Omaha, going 4-for-11 (.364) with three walks (one intentional) and two strikeouts.

“I owe it to my teammates, the organization, the fans, everybody to get back as soon as I can, as healthy as I can,” Pasquantino said. “That’s kind of how I approach these things. We obviously wouldn’t do it if I didn’t feel comfortable or they didn’t feel comfortable. It’s one of those things where I think I can help this team win, and I’m going to do whatever I can to do my part.”

In a corresponding move, the Royals optioned outfielder Kameron Misner to Triple-A Omaha. They also swapped relievers, bringing up Eli Morgan and optioning Jose Cuas to Triple-A, to give the bullpen a fresh arm.

“Happy for him, happy for us,” manager Matt Quatraro said of getting Pasquantino back. “He worked exceptionally hard to get through this. He set his goal really early to get back before the All-Star break, and he had to do a lot of hard work to get here. It’s nice to have him back.”

Pasquantino wasn’t in the lineup against right-hander Brandon Young on Friday, but Quatraro said he expects Pasquantino to play one, if not both, of the next two days before the All-Star break begins. The Royals didn’t want to push the first baseman right back into games after he had the three-week layoff and then immediately into playing three consecutive rehab games, including Thursday night in Louisville. Pasquantino flew to Baltimore early on Friday morning to rejoin the team, and he’s fully available off the bench for a late-game pinch-hit opportunity if the Royals need him.

“We’ll definitely have to evaluate him day after day,” Quatraro said. “We’ll see how he feels. He hasn’t been facing Major League pitching every day, so we’ll see what the results are. We’ll see how his body reacts. But hopefully, he’s back in there as an everyday guy.”

The Royals will continue to rely on Pasquantino as a key part of their lineup, but he might not find himself right back in his typical No. 3 spot in the batting order as he returns. Jac Caglianone has gotten the majority of at-bats in that spot and has been on a good streak, so the Royals will likely want to keep Caglianone in that spot as long as the matchup makes sense. Defensively, this also likely means that Caglianone will go back to right field for the majority of games as Pasquantino and Salvador Perez split time at first base.

Pasquantino will look to put his grim first-half numbers behind him as he returns from injury. He slashed just .224/.309/.350 with six homers and 32 RBIs in 68 games before he got hurt, results not up to the expectations he nor the Royals had of him as a run producer in the middle of the lineup. While Pasquantino was rehabbing, he dove into video and research in search of answers, and once he was able to ramp up baseball activity, he worked on a number of things to try to help his swing.

“Had a lot of time to think about what happened in the first half, and I think we made some good adjustments to what we’re doing,” Pasquantino said. “But at the end of the day, you got to put numbers up. That’s the name of this game. Just do whatever I can to help this team put wins on the scoreboard. And try like hell to make that happen.”