MINNEAPOLIS -- Almost three weeks after Vinnie Pasquantino returned following surgery on a right hamate fracture, the Royals first baseman is on the injured list again as he deals with right wrist soreness.
Kansas City on Wednesday placed Pasquantino on the 10-day IL, calling up outfielder John Rave from Triple-A Omaha in a corresponding move. Pasquantino exited Tuesday night’s 3-2 loss to the Twins in the ninth inning with right hand soreness after it had progressed throughout the game. He had felt some discomfort on a diving play at first base in Detroit over the weekend, and that discomfort hadn’t subsided.
By Wednesday, Pasquantino was on the IL. He’s headed back to Kansas City for further evaluation, but there’s no known timeline yet for a return.
“As a hitter, that’s not the kind of thing that you can have go away without some rest,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “Just made a decision that he needed to get some rest and see if we can get it to calm down. …
“You can see it when you’re watching. He just doesn’t feel 100%. You can see him shake it out. I started asking him after his second at-bat [Tuesday], and he said, ‘No, I’m good.’ But then when we made the pitching change to [John] Schreiber [in the seventh inning], he said something to me that he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to continue to hit.”
Pasquantino underwent a procedure on June 14 that removed the fractured hamate bone in his right hand, an injury that he sustained on June 13. He rehabbed for three weeks, went on a rehab assignment on July 7 and played three games with Omaha before rejoining the Royals in Baltimore on July 11 right before the All-Star break.
Returning from an injury and surgery like Pasquantino did always meant there would be general fatigue as he regained endurance and strength in his hand, and the Royals were closely monitoring his workload volume over these past few weeks. This current IL stint offers Pasquantino a reset instead of him trying to play through that fatigue and soreness.
Pasquantino has a .232/.318/.345 slash line and six home runs in 79 games this season. With him on the IL again, the Royals’ entire Opening Day infield is now on the injured list in Pasquantino, second baseman Jonathan India (left labral surgery), shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (low back tightness) and third baseman Maikel Garcia (left hand muscle strain).