‘This is your team’: Pasquantino proudly carrying Italy’s WBC torch

Back when he was making his way through the Royals’ Minor League system, Vinnie Pasquantino began noticing a common trend.

“People always tried to give me nicknames,” he told MLB.com, “so they didn't have to say ‘Pasquantino.’”

Nine times out of 10, those monikers would involve the word “Italian.” Kansas City fans referred to him as “Italian Breakfast.” Franchise legend George Brett called him “the Italian Nightmare.” No matter what nicknames Pasquantino heard, the roots he proudly boasts from his father’s side often served as source material.

The craze died down slightly after his 2022 MLB debut -- “Pasquatch” quickly became the new fan favorite -- but it wasn’t long before Pasquantino’s heritage once again became a topic of conversation. In fact, ever since he played for Italy in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, his representing those roots is all anyone wants to talk about.

“I get asked about it all the time,” Pasquantino said. “That’s the question that I get asked the most when I meet somebody new. ‘Oh you play for Team Italy, don't you?’”

But the Royals first baseman is more than happy to wax poetic about the WBC. His passion for it has become impossible to ignore. Pasquantino left the 2023 Classic with newfound appreciation for his ancestry, and he jumped on board for the ‘26 tournament the second he was offered the chance to do so.

This time around, though, he wants the World Baseball Classic to be more than just a venue for Italian American big leaguers to represent their heritage on the diamond. In his eyes, the tournament is a chance for him to blaze a trail for future homegrown players from a country doing everything it possibly can to grow the game of baseball.

“We look at this like we’re holding the torch for Italy right now,” Pasquantino said. “The hope would be to build some sort of excitement over there, and they take the torch from us. We're here to legitimately try to build a baseball culture in Italy.”

It’s a mentality he didn’t necessarily have heading into the 2023 Classic, but one that was instead born from everything he experienced during it.

Taking part in the WBC for the first time and not knowing what to expect, Pasquantino intended to take a backseat and keep his head down as the tournament approached. Such a strategy proved hard to pull off when, as part of the lead-up, he and his teammates were invited out to Italy by the Italian Baseball and Softball Federation (FIBS) and then-manager Mike Piazza. It was Pasquantino’s first time visiting his ancestors’ homeland, and while the trip provided the chance to explore while bonding with his teammates, it also gave him a first-hand look at how passionate the Italians were about increasing baseball’s foothold in the national conversation.

Pasquantino left the excursion with a greater understanding of who he was representing and just how important the Classic was to them. By the time he finally took the field for Team Italy, the experience had him feeling like a kid again. The pressure, the stakes, carrying a country’s hopes on your shoulders in a setting where every game mattered, all of it reshaped what playing for Team Italy meant for Pasquantino.

“I just remember how much fun all those games were,” Pasquantino said. “Stats don't matter, all that matters was winning the game. You go 0-for-4 and you win, you're the happiest guy in the world. You go 4-for-4 and you lose, and you're ready to cry.”

Though further exhilaration was found after Italy advanced into the quarterfinals, the team’s run ended there after a 9-3 loss to eventual champion Japan. By then, though, Pasquantino’s perception of the WBC had completely changed.

The thought of re-upping with Team Italy in 2026 was already a no-brainer. But he now wanted to become more than just a passenger on the ride. Pasquantino knew FIBS’ goal was to use the Classic to inspire more Italian-born baseball players, and he was going to do whatever he could to help them in that quest.

“It's always a dream to represent a country, represent your heritage,” Pasquantino said. “Everybody from Team Italy has treated me so well. They've given me so much pride. … That’s where, for me, it's like, ‘Why wouldn't I give everything I have to these people?’”

That attitude didn’t go unnoticed with FIBS. Leadership changes were made within the organization last January, with former MLB exec Ned Colletti stepping in as GM while former Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli replaced Piazza as Team Italy’s manager. Once the key roles were filled, FIBS set out on building its roster for the next WBC.

They knew exactly who to call first. Pasquantino’s name was firmly placed atop FIBS’ list, which is why the opening conversations involved more than just discussing a roster spot.

“I told him the first time I talked to him, ‘You’re the guy,’” Cervelli told MLB.com. “‘We’re going to build this around you. This is your team. Whatever you do, it’s going to reflect on the other guys.’”

Pasquantino was hardly expecting to be told he was, in no uncertain terms, the captain of Team Italy. But when the shock of receiving that honor wore off, he was quick to take on the duties of his new role.

“At the beginning, we didn’t know the roster. We had some tentative guys,” Team Italy coach and former Yankees star Jorge Posada told MLB.com. “Pasquantino was already all in. He’s done a good job of trying to put everything together. The guys that are on the fence, he gives them a call.”

Pasquantino hit the recruiting trail throughout the bigs, reaching out to anyone eligible to join the Italians. Some pitches were admittedly easier than others, as he found when he started recruiting Royals teammate Jac Caglianone the moment he introduced himself to him at Spring Training last year. It turns out little effort was needed to get that commitment.

Still, Pasquantino made sure Caglianone and anyone else he spoke to received a direct pitch uniquely tailored to them and what they could bring to the team come March. He had no interest in sending boilerplate texts to 10 players at a time. Instead, he wanted to make sure those he recruited felt as wanted as he was, all while highlighting the opportunity to take in the same life-changing experience he had in 2023.

Yes, Pasquantino tells them, he only went 4-for-20 last tournament and wishes he had contributed more. But it was the privilege itself that he wanted others to be able to take in. He was given the opportunity to represent an entire country, something that far outweighed anything that occurred during a given at-bat.

“I wish every guy was like Vinnie,” Cervelli said. “This is the captain. That’s what the captain does. They talk to people, they create their energy in the clubhouse. This guy’s been incredible.”

Pasquantino has indeed fully embraced his position as Team Italy’s flag bearer. But one would be mistaken to think he wants his teammates just feeling happy to be there come March. The goal is to advance deep into the WBC. Asked how Team Italy can best do so, Pasquantino tosses subtlety out the window.

“We put on the [Azzuri] tees and we go to work,” he said. “We roll our sleeves up, we get a little dirty – just like all of our family did when they moved over here from Italy – and we just blue-collar the [crap] out of other teams.”

Should Team Italy succeed in doing so, it’d help Pasquantino and FIBS inch closer than ever to achieving their ultimate goal.

The Federation knows that getting baseball in a place where it can compete with soccer in national popularity is an arduous challenge, but it refuses to see it as an impossible one. To a man, everyone involved with Team Italy recognizes that the World Baseball Classic presents an incredible chance to inspire younger generations of Italian baseball players, those who could potentially shape what the club’s future WBC rosters look like. FIBS wants baseball to take hold of the national spotlight this March, and having that happen will require Team Italy winning as much as possible.

The importance of that challenge is not lost on the Italian American leading the charge in 2026.

“That's the best way to gain notoriety over there -- win games and essentially make them want to watch,” Pasquantino said. “That's the most important thing, just show a level of pride for the country of Italy that doesn't come across as disrespectful.

“There will be guys that were born in Italy on this team, but it's not going to be full of those guys. The end goal is to get baseball to a point where they do have a team full of guys from over there that can come over, compete in this tournament and come play in the big leagues.”

It’s quite an emphatic obligation from someone whose Italian roots once only came up via nicknames, and further proof of the impact playing in the WBC had on him.

Those who knew Pasquantino in the Minors may have seen him as some sort of hypothetical Captain Italy. Ironically, after a life-altering experience drove him to further fuel that country’s goal of growing the game, that’s exactly what he’s become.