Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino is known for his power at the plate, but Thursday we learned how he’s willing to ask the hard question to star players as a member of the media.
Pasuqantino, working as a correspondent for Major League Baseball for the 2025 World Series, was present for Dodgers pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani’s media session prior to the start of the best-of-seven series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Working his way to the front of the scrum, he asked the question many hitters (and fans of those hitters) would want to know.
“World Baseball Classic, we faced each other. And with Kansas City this year,” Pasquantino prefaced before hitting Ohtani with the query. “Why do throw so hard to me? Why? Why do you hate me?”
The two fastest pitches Shohei Ohtani has ever thrown were both to Vinnie Pasquantino … two years apart.
Naturally, Vinnie had to find out why. pic.twitter.com/EUyTvtw8OW
— MLB (@MLB) October 23, 2025
It turns out Ohtani’s two hardest thrown pitches a 102 MPH and a 101.7 MPH fastball, were both to strike out Pasquantino.
The question got a laugh from everyone (including Ohtani) before the NLCS MVP gave his response through team interpreter Will Ireton. “You’re just a really good hitter,” Ohtani replied. “I have to.”
“That’s not good enough,” Pasquantino playfully jabbed back. “You throw too hard, Shohei!”
Royals Star Had Breakout Year In 2025
But Pasquantino has struggled against Ohtani in limited AB’s
The Royals first baseman had a strong year at the plate in 2025, finishing with career highs in games played (160), hits (164), doubles (33), home runs (32), and runs batted in (113). His 32 homers ranked second among American League first basemen, and his 113 RBI were the most at the position.
The first baseman has only faced Ohtani a handful of times in his career, but the Dodgers’ star has been successful against Pasquantino. In their only meeting this year on June 28 in Kansas City, Ohtani got Pasquantino to end the top of the first inning by grounding into a double play. Their only other meeting came on April 21, 2023 when Ohtani was still with the Los Angeles Angels. Pasquantino struck out against Ohtani in the second before getting his only hit off the right-hander, a single, in the fourth. He then struck out again in the seventh, two of the 11 strikeouts Ohtani would have in the game.
