Royals top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. still stands out after a year spent in the shadows
No, it’s not quite Bobby Witt Jr.’s time yet, but it may not be too far off.
Unique circumstances in the age of COVID-19 assured that the Kansas City Royals’ highly touted young shortstop will have a unique development arc.
The No. 2 overall draft pick two years ago, a former national high school player of the year, Baseball America’s current No. 16 prospect in the game and the son of a longtime major-league pitcher, Witt continues to close the gap between himself and the big leagues.
That much has become nearly undeniable.
“I think so, but it’s not really up to me,” Witt said of getting closer to the majors. “I’ve got to go out there and keep performing and doing my job. I just want to help the team as much as possible. I feel like that will get me as close to the major leagues as much as possible.”
Witt gets his second experience in big-league camp this spring. His first came in the form of last year’s summer camp/spring training 2.0 in Kauffman Stadium.
Somewhat counter-intuitively, he has pushed closer to the majors without playing in a minor-league game since 2019, when he appeared in just 37 Rookie League games.
In an interview with The Star last week, a masked Witt stood on the concourse at Surprise Stadium and credited the Royals organization for the guidance and mentoring he has received from coaches and teammates.
After all, two years ago he was competing against other teenagers as a star at Colleyville Heritage High School in Texas. Now, his big-league dreams seem close enough to almost touch.
Last summer in the Royals summer camp at Kauffman Stadium, Witt impressed with both eye-popping plays with his glove and his bat against major leaguers.
Witt, who will turn 21 in June, had some of his best at-bats last summer against Royals veteran left-hander Danny Duffy, and Duffy didn’t downplay the youngster’s success against him in intrasquad scrimmages. Duffy lauded Witt as being “beyond his years” and joked that he already looked like the best hitter of all time.
Bobby Witt Sr., who pitched for seven MLB teams over 16 seasons, wrapped up his career a year after the younger Witt was born, but Witt was constantly surrounded by baseball.
Witt’s older sisters married professional ballplayers, and his dad remained around the game as an agent. Those ties afforded Witt the chance to grow up around the major-league game, and now he relishes every chance to match up against big leaguers.
“Ever since I was little, I think my dad and parents put that competitive instinct in me,” Witt said. “Whenever the stage gets bigger, I feel like that’s when I’m at my best. Facing a big leaguer — whenever it is, whether it’s on the back fields or if it’s in Kauffman at the summer camp — I just feel like that’s when I’m most comfortable.
“I really believe that’s just with me growing up around the game and being around those guys. Being able to get comfortable with that was really huge for me. I’m just grateful for the opportunities I have. I grew up watching all these guys. Now, I get to play with them and against them. I just really don’t want to take anything for granted.”
Progress made
Witt just started to scratch the surface of his offensive potential at the end of his first pro season.
In his final 17 Arizona League games, he batted .280 with a home run, three triples, 12 runs scored and 16 RBIs before he finished 2019 at the Royals instructional league.
By all accounts, he has made significant strides since.
The thin-but-athletic frame Witt sported when the Royals tapped him out of the high school ranks has filled in with muscle.
He graduated high school at 6-foot-1 and between 175 and 180 pounds.
Now, he’s close to 200 pounds, bigger in the arms, chest and shoulders while having worked to maintain his speed. He already feels the difference in the way the ball has come off his bat in batting practice.
Witt lauded the experience he gained at the alternate training site, learning from fellow prospects like Nick Pratto, Kyle Isbel, Erick Mejia, and others who have already played at higher levels in the minors.
“I had a blast out there, and I guess that was as game-like as possible as I could get with playing against all the big league guys and playing against the Astros in an exhibition game,” Witt said.
“Being out at the alternate site, we pretty much scrimmaged each and every day. I felt like throughout all that time I got as good as I probably could have gotten throughout a regular season facing the arms like Daniel Lynch, Austin Cox, Jonathan Heasley, the names go on and on, Jackson Kowar.”
Witt Jr. has already played in more MLB exhibition games (three) than Single-A games (zero) — he went 2 for 5 with two runs scored a double and an RBI in last summer’s exhibition games. He also had the final at-bat (a strikeout) in Sunday’s 6-inning exhibition opener against the Texas Rangers.
The alternate site was not open to the public or media, but during last summer Royals assistant general manager/player performance J.J. Picollo described Witt as having a ‘mature approach” at the plate and referred Witt’s pitch recognition and ability to hit with two strikes as being “as good as I’ve ever seen with a young player.”
Witt will likely garner an assignment to one of the upper level minor-league affiliates this year.
In the first week of spring training he logged innings at shortstop, third base and second base, as was the case in the alternate training site.
Royals manager Mike Matheny quipped that he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to talk about Witt, an acknowledgment that Matheny is aware Witt has already started to develop a following among Royals fans and local media personalities.
“I’m so impressed with this kid from start to finish,” Matheny said. “I’m not going to belabor it, but what he’s doing out there is exactly what we’d hoped to see and often times beyond that.”
While Witt still has relatively limited time in the minors, Matheny strongly pushed back against the idea that prospects like Witt had their development delayed last year while at the alternate training site.
“I think we’re stuck in this thing of not giving due credit to what those guys did last year,” Matheny said. “I’ve watched some of these players improve from 365 days ago. How much they’ve improved, you normally would not see that had they played every day of a typical minor-league season. What they were doing was everyday baseball.”
Matheny sang the praises of the Royals player development staff for the plan club officials designed for those players.
“The guys pushed themselves. The player development people did an incredible job with the circumstances,” Matheny said. “The bottom line is guys like Bobby Witt — they got better. They just did.”
