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SURPRISE, Ariz. – The espresso machine. Let’s talk about it. Team Italy has become the talk of the baseball world, and maybe a little bit beyond, at the World Baseball Classic – and right in the middle of it all is Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, whose personality is on full display as the Italian captain. One of the several Italian-themed celebrations Pasquantino and his team have brought to the tournament is the espresso shot home run celebration, which is exactly what you think it is: Every Italian player who hits a home run is greeted back in the dugout with a jacket to put on and an espresso shot to down, presented by Pasquantino along with two kisses on the cheek. Unless, of course, Pasquantino himself is the one who hits it out of the park. Up until Wednesday night, Pasquantino was in charge of manning the machine with his own bat yet to catch fire. That all changed during Italy’s rout of Mexico on Wednesday, when Pasquantino made Classic history by homering three times. Of course, his Royals teammates were watching back in Surprise. A few of them caught the first home run as the clubhouse was emptying out following their Cactus League game. “That was unbelievable,” Royals catcher Carter Jensen said. “I texted him after the first one, said, ‘Let’s go,’ and then he just kept going. I bet he barely slept all night.” Three home runs meant three espresso shots. Pasquantino was wired after the game, which made for some hilarious postgame interviews (which also shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who follows the Royals closely). |
But now, obviously, the question has to be asked: Will the espresso machine be making its way to the Royals’ dugout this year? We can’t get a clear answer right now because the main team leaders and decision-makers are at the WBC. Pasquantino is one of them, but he would have to get the all-clear from Royals captain Salvador Perez, along with Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia and some pitchers, too, like Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha. But manager Matt Quatraro brings up a good point: “If it was a guarantee that someone or we as a team would hit three homers in a game, we would have as many as we could get,” he said. Fair enough. |
Espresso aside, the Royals have loved watching their stars take over the WBC, whether it was Witt’s great night for Team USA earlier this week, Jac Caglianone’s big home run against USA on Tuesday, Pasquantino’s historic game on Wednesday – the list goes on. They’ve tuned into Venezuela’s games because of Perez, Garcia and Luinder Avila, and they’ll definitely be watching Lugo, whose nickname is “Quarterrican”, pitch for Team Puerto Rico against Italy on Saturday. “That’s like my dream, right? To be able to brag about the guys,” Quatraro said. “They’re making it easy from their performance, from their personality, from all of it. And obviously Salvy does that every day, all the time, but for the fans to get to know these guys at a deeper level, it’s really special.” |
And he hopes that the experience each of these players is having will follow right over to the Royals’ season. “They’re charged up to the highest level they can be in March, right?” Quatraro said. “You want that hunger for that level of baseball to stay as much as possible, and it’s one of the things we talked about all offseason – taking no pitches off. That’s what they’re currently doing. Will that happen in a Spring Training game? Probably not, but once the season starts, that’s what we want: Intensity from pitch one.” One more caffeinated note: The Royals’ dugout usually has a jug of coffee in it, but an espresso machine for a home run celebration is a whole different story. It might not work as well as it does for Team Italy right now, though – drinking espresso, celebrating with wine and fully leaning into their Italian heritage? It’s too perfect. The Royals might need to create their own home run and/or team celebration around the group they have in their own clubhouse. |
But there are some espresso fans on the roster. “Well, Vinnie and I were actually talking about one before he left for the WBC, because Salvy’s got this little one over here,” reliever Matt Strahm said, nodding to a coffee machine next to Perez’s locker in the clubhouse. “I told Vinnie to get a Breville ordered, and I’d foot half the bill if he ordered it. We should have one.” Let’s just say this story isn’t over. “They would enjoy it in the dugout,” Strahm said. “Got to keep them ‘beaned up.’” |
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Strahm did consider pitching for Team USA, but once he got traded to the Royals in late December, he thought it was best to stay in camp all spring. It’s allowed him to get fully settled into the team, along with getting to know the medical staff ahead of the season. “The Royals pay me handsomely, and I feel like I have an obligation to put them first,” Strahm said. “I do a lot with the trainers to get me ready, and they’ve been great here so far. And I just don’t want to see what a week away from that does, and then have only nine days to be ready for the season. It was something I was battling back and forth with. It came down to: Yeah, representing your country is cool. But winning a World Series is the ultimate goal, in my opinion.” |
• Newest outfielder Starling Marte is on a regular game progression after taking it a little slowly following his arrival. He went 0-for-2 with a walk in his first Cactus League game on Wednesday and is now slated to play almost every other day, at least as a DH. There isn’t a plan yet to get him in the outfield, but he said he’s been doing “a lot of work in practice” and is “ready to go” whenever he needs to be.
• Reliever James McArthur is progressing well this spring and is slated to appear in his second Minor League game on Saturday. He’s been taking his buildup slowly after missing the entire 2025 season with an elbow injury.
• Five of the Royals’ remaining nine Cactus League games will be night games, including Friday night’s matchup against the D-backs in Surprise. That will be broadcast for free on Royals.TV beginning at 8:05 p.m. CT, with new analyst Eric Hosmer making his debut in the booth.
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