One day after announcing he will represent Italy in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, Vinnie Pasquantino collected two hits in the Kansas City Royals’ 10-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium.
Buongiorno! Proud to say I will be representing Italy again in the 2026 World Baseball Classic! Excited for another opportunity to represent my heritage on this stage. Going to be a special group of players suiting up next year! Forza!!!!! ???????? ????????☕️☕️ pic.twitter.com/Lx8l24wgCu
— Vinnie Pasquantino (@VPasquantino) May 7, 2025
Italy will compete in Pool B with the United States, Mexico, Great Britain, and Brazil from March 6–11 at Daikin Park in Houston, Texas.
Pasquantino lined a single to right in the bottom of the first inning and added an RBI single to center in the eighth, scoring Jonathan India. The (23-16) Royals open up a three-game series against the (20-19) Boston Red Sox at home on Friday, May 9 at 7:40 p.m. EDT.
Pasquantino hit .200/.273/.200 across five games in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, recording four hits, two walks, seven strikeouts, and one run in 20 at-bats. Italy advanced to the quarterfinals after going 2-2 in Pool A at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taiwan, finishing with the same record as the Netherlands, Cuba, Panama, and host Chinese Taipei. They moved on via the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Team Quality Balance tiebreaker before falling 9-3 to Japan at the Tokyo Dome.
This season, the 27-year-old left-handed slugger from Richmond, Virginia has appeared in 37 games, batting .210/.265/.385 through 155 plate appearances. He has tallied 30 hits, five doubles, one triple, six home runs, 22 RBI, 10 walks, and 29 strikeouts heading into Thursday’s game.
Last year, Pasquantino posted a .262 average and .760 OPS across 131 games, collecting 130 hits, 30 doubles, two triples, 19 homers, 97 RBI, 40 walks, and 71 strikeouts over 554 plate appearances.
Since making his MLB debut on June 28, 2022, at home against the Texas Rangers, Pasquantino has played in 301 games for the Royals. Over four seasons, he owns a career slash line of .260/.324/.440 with a .764 OPS, along with 293 hits, 62 doubles, three triples, 44 home runs, 171 RBI, 110 walks, 165 strikeouts, and a 2.6 WAR across 1,267 plate appearances.
Italy WBC Background
Former Italy national team player Marco Mazzieri is the president of the Federazione Italiana Baseball Softball.
The Italian national team for the 2026 World Baseball Classic official roster will be evaluated in the 2025 Serie A1 season for second string positions or in the bullpen.
World Series champion Francisco Cervelli will be the manager for Italy at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
The majority of the Italy roster for the 2026 WBC will consist of players on active rosters with Major League Baseball organizations and in the minor leagues.
Mazzieri and Cervelli will evaluate through the course of the 2025 Serie A1 season on who they can see potential being on the roster come March. All stats for the 2025 Serie A1 season are located on FIBS.
The regulations of the 2026 World Baseball Classic with player eligibility are listed here.
Mazzieri will have to scout on building a great roster for the Italian national team over the next few months as he builds a roster for the 2026 WBC. Italy is eyeing on attending the 2026 Caribbean Series in Caracas, Venezuela, alongside the Japan Breeze, South Korea, Cuba, and the winter league champions from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Venezuela, who will compete before the start of MLB spring training.
The 2026 Caribbean Series will be held from January 30 until February 7 with the main venues being Estadio Simon Bolivar, Estadio Forum de La Guaria, and Estadio Universitario.
The U-23 Italy national team will also be scouted closely during the calendar of 2025 for other Italian-born players that will play in the 2025 Serie A1 regular season.
Italy’s WBC roster will also include a majority of players signed with MLB organizations, including those in the minor leagues.
FIBS has yet to announce whether it will send an all-star team to the Caribbean Series or the winner of the 2025 Serie A1 season.
Possible additions and returners for Italy’s offense that can be a big help for this upcoming March are Sal Frelick, Nicky Lopez, Miles Mastrobuoni, David Fletcher, Dominic Fletcher, Brett Sullivan, Jac Caglianone, Logan O’Hoppe, Joey Loperfido, Andrew Benintendi, Cavan Biggio, Michael Toglia, Alberto Mineo, Anthony Rizzo, Michael Conforto, and Trey Mancini.
Joey Gallo, who is now converting to be a pitcher, can be a wild card option for Italy if he performs well during the course of the 2025 season.
Pitching from both the starting rotation and bullpen for Italy’s 2026 WBC roster can possibly include players such as Samuel Aldegheri, Filippo Sabatini, Alessandro Ercolani, Anthony DeSclafani, Adam Ottavino, Matt Festa, Michele Vassalotti, Andre Pallante, Claudio Scotti, Glenn Albanese Jr., Mitchell Stumpo, Nathan Eovaldi, Spencer Arrighetti, Vinny Nittoli, Nick Pivetta, Aaron Civale, Zac Gallen, Jordan Romano, Joe Musgrove, Cade Cavalli, Lucas Giolitio, and Aaron Nola.
Before the WBC, Italy will participate in the 2025 European Baseball Championship from September 20–27. Senago, Italy; Rotterdam, Netherlands; and Borgerhout, Belgium, will host the tournament, which gives Israel’s federation officials another opportunity to evaluate talent for their official 2026 WBC roster.
Italy, Israel, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and the Czech Republic will return from the WBSC Europe sector for their second consecutive WBC appearance.
2026 World Baseball Classic Information
Nicaragua will play against Venezuela, Israel, the Netherlands, and the Dominican Republic in Miami at loanDepot Park from March 6-11.
Puerto Rico, Cuba, Canada, Panama, and Colombia will compete in San Juan, Puerto Rico at Hiram Bithorn Stadium from March 6-11 in Pool A.
Japan, Australia, South Korea, Czech Republic, and Chinese Taipei will compete at the Tokyo Dome from March 5-10 in Pool C.
The Quarterfinals of the 2026 WBC will feature the Pool A runner-up facing the Pool B winner on March 13, while the Pool B runner-up will face the Pool A winner on March 14 at Daikin Park.
The other side of the Quarterfinals will be on March 13 with the Pool C runner-up playing the Pool D winner and the Pool D runner-up will play the Pool C winner at loanDepot Park on March 14.
The 2026 WBC semifinals will be held on March 15 and 16 at loanDepot Park, with the championship game taking place on March 17.
The 2026 WBC pool matchups and venue details are posted at MLB.com’s official WBC site, although game start times have not yet been announced.
2026 World Baseball Classic Information
The United States, Italy, Mexico, Great Britain and Brazil will compete at Daikin Park in Houston, Texas from March 6-11 in Pool B.
