KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Complementing his substantial stature at 6-foot-3 and 240-ish pounds (but sure looking more sleek the other day), Vinnie Pasquantino also has a bit personality: charismatic and animated with a certain gift for delivery and comedic timing.

Those traits help explain why the undersized childhood version of him was in demand not yet as a baseball star but as an actor who played hobbit Bilbo Baggins in a “Lord of the Rings” middle school play.

Long before he inspired the “Pasquatch” bit and last season smacked 32 home runs with 113 RBIs for the Royals, he also had assumed the role of a flying monkey in a production of “The Wizard of Oz.”

But all that extroverted personality tends to obscure another compelling aspect of Pasquantino: He’s frequently willing and able to break through the invisible “fourth wall,” as they call it in the acting world, and invite fans and media into his thinking with a rare candor and engagement.

Sharing his internal monologue has been evident since the first day he was called up in June 2022, when he seemed to have misplaced his glove in the dugout as he was getting acclimated. Upon picking it up, he just laughed and said, “I have no idea what’s going on” just before he gave us a colorful glimpse of who he is with stream-of-consciousness answers as he spoke on the field.

Which brings us to now, when Pasquantino has a keen idea of about everything that’s going on — and has let us all behind that curtain as it pertains to the very nature of the business.

Pasquantino was among those who spoke with the media at Royals Rally at Kauffman Stadium, where he had not been scheduled to speak until news broke Friday night that he had signed a two-year contract extension for $11 million featuring escalators up to $15.7 million.

The deal averted an impending arbitration hearing over what MLB.com has reported was a $500,000 difference: $4 million offered by the Royals and $4.5 million sought by the Pasquantino camp.

Despite Pasquantino’s clear role as a cornerstone of the Royals’ hopes for a deep postseason run, significant tension had loomed over the dynamics.

As often both in person and through social media, he had expressed the quiet part out loud — and also illuminated the situation — with an online response earlier in January when the Royals announced they’d be moving in the Kauffman fences this season.

In a post on X, Pasquantino in part wrote this: “I’m very curious how this is going to play out in multiple ways. And honestly mostly from a data perspective (this hits close to home because I’m about to go into a room and hear how awful I am).”

His bluntness then spoke to a cold and unsavory part of the process. And Pasquantino elaborated on it thoughtfully Saturday … after playfully saying “you’re welcome for the content” from his social media presence.

That post, in which he also entered into questions about how data is processed and applied, essentially was “a thinking exercise,” he said.

As he sometimes tends to do aloud.

“I try to think about things before I react to them,” said Pasquantino, who is all for the fences being moved in. “And sometimes when I’m thinking about them publicly, it seems like I’m reacting … which is totally fair.”

Speaking of fair, good on both parties for coming to a deal that Pasquantino respected and summed up nicely: “I think both sides are taking on some risk. I think both sides understand the value here.”

While Royals general manager J.J. Picollo suggested it wasn’t necessarily urgent to get the contract done, from Pasquantino’s standpoint there seemed to be fresh validation in working it out — the sort of input that should help him have a clear mind for the season ahead.

Whether he needed that is an open question for Pasquantino.

But consider how he spoke about the last few weeks.

First, for context:

It’s not that he doesn’t know that it’s ultimately always business-first. Or recognize that even what the Royals were offering was an unfathomable amount of money to most people.

He also made it a point to say how much he values data, joking that he most favors the analytic systems that rank him highest.

More seriously, he added that the Royals’ metrics are most valuable to him because they account for the sorts of things — such as defensive positioning based on internal data — that are elusive from the outside looking in.

For all that, though, the game still is about “men, not machines,” as renowned longtime manager Tony La Russa liked to say. And that certainly starts with mindset.

Given that Pasquantino is very much flesh and blood with an ever-percolating psyche, the extension gave him some much-appreciated peace.

“You get told ‘it’s a business, it’s a business, it’s a business,’ and you try to take the emotions out of it,” he said. “However, you’re talking about an individual salary, and when you are that individual …”

He paused and laughed out loud.

“It makes it a little bit more personal,” he added. “As un-personal as it is, because it’s just math and looking at a value and determining what that value is.”

But when “you are the decimal point,” as he put it, it’s hard not to feel it’s indeed personal.

“Just naturally, even if it’s not,” he said, smiling and adding, “And I’ve always been a chip-on-my shoulder guy. Very easy to put one on your shoulder there.”

Just adjacent to the heart on the sleeve.

All of which helps make Pasquantino a vital part of this intriguing time for the Royals, a key element along with Bobby Witt Jr., Salvador Perez, Maikel Garcia, a tremendous starting rotation and a sharp back end of the bullpen.

“At some point, it’s your time,” said Picollo, speaking specifically of leadership from the younger players but with a broader application. “Right now, Bobby, Vinnie, Maikel, it’s your time.”

That core was in place last season, of course, which Pasquantino bluntly termed “a failure.”

Now, he added, it’s time to “take the faith that the front office put in us and make it real.”

Real … just like he is so willing to be.

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