Is Royals top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. ready for the majors? ‘Whenever’, he says
The anticipation and allure of Bobby Witt Jr. may never reach a higher plateau. As the Kansas City Royals’ top prospect who’s ranked in the top three in professional baseball, it’s all but a given that Witt won’t go into another spring training without having made his major-league debut.
The 21-year-old prodigy from Texas has taken his place among roughly 30 to 40 Royals players at the club’s facility in Arizona working out in advance of minor-league camp and with major-league camp still on hold due to the Major League Baseball owners having locked out MLB players as they negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.
Since being drafted in 2019, Witt has added muscle, his brown hair flows more amply out from underneath his baseball cap and a mustache hides the baby face he once sported coming out of Colleyville Heritage High School.
“His enthusiasm and his energy is infectious. His personality is infectious. He’s a breath of fresh air,” Royals president of baseball operations Dayton Moore said this week. “We all understand how talented he is. We all recognized how talented he is. He has the ability to help a major-league baseball team win in multiple ways, but his personality and energy is equally as impactful.”
A former national high school player of the year and No. 2 overall draft pick as well as the son of a 16-year MLB veteran pitcher, Witt still exists in that charmed prospect limbo where he has demonstrated the potential, aptitude and skill to make the loftiest hopes seem attainable.
Having not yet played in a big-league game, Royals fans can still project all manner of expectation upon him and there’s nothing tangible to rebuff their hopes.
His limited-yet-dazzling performance thus far has fueled those dreams for fans.
Meanwhile, he’s simply pursuing his own dream and waiting for his time to come.
“I feel like I’ve done all the preparation I’ve needed to,” Witt said following a morning workout in Arizona on Friday. “It’s just time and place. Whenever. I just want to help the team win.”
A 6-foot-1, 200-pound right-handed hitting shortstop, Witt impressed while playing against veteran big-leaguers during Spring Training 2.0/Summer Camp in Kansas City when baseball resumed after COVID-19 shut down the sport for three months in 2020.
Last year in his lone full season in professional baseball (the pandemic wiped out the 2020 minor-league season), Witt made a lasting impression.
He slashed .290/.361/.575 with 33 home runs, 35 doubles, 29 stolen bases and 97 RBIs in 123 games (61 at Double-A, 62 at Triple-A). A rained-out game in which he had a stolen base wiped out his chance to have the third season of at least 30 steals, 30 doubles and 30 home runs in the minors since 1990.
Along the way, Witt earned Minor League Player of the Year honors from Baseball America and USA Today.
All of those grandiose exploits came despite him having sputtered out of the gate with a .233 batting average, a .314 OBP and 31 strikeouts in his first 91 at-bats of last season.
That early speed bump ultimately helped put him on the track to the success he enjoyed last season.
A simple mantra
Looking back, Witt admits that not making the big-league club last year after having a strong showing in major-league camp probably affected his early play.
“Getting that taste of being out there playing against other big leaguers, playing with the big leaguers and knowing that there’s a chance that I get this opportunity that’s been a life-long goal, I just worked so hard for that,” Witt said. “Then — not getting shot down, but knowing that you’re not ready yet — that kinda put me down maybe.”
Last spring, Witt hit an epic 484-foot homer that had Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes tweeting about him, scored from second base on an infield hit, bested major-league starter Julio Urias in a head-to-head matchup and posted a .289/.325/.526 slash line in 14 games in Cactus League play.
Witt’s initial reaction when got sent to Double-A to start the season was that he needed to do more in order to prove he belonged at the top level.
That’s when the strikeouts piled up.
Out of those early struggles rose his one-word mantra: “Simple.” He uses it as his daily reminder. He wrote it on his bat. He works it into almost every interview.
“Hitters, so many times, we get in our own way,” Royals senior director of player development/hitting performance Alec Zumwalt said. “We don’t let the naturalness of our own ability just play.
“Other guys have talked about it and joked about having that little guy on your shoulder telling you something in your ear when you’re in that batter’s box. We’ve all been there, but the good ones are able to ignore that.”
Witt’s natural ability has been on an elite level since before he entered pro ball and he drew some comparisons to Alex Rodriguez. Witt’s talent hasn’t faded when he’s taken the field against the game’s best.
Once he got over not making the major-league club and realized he was trying to do too much, he settled in and showed off a rare blend of bat speed, the ability to make contact and power.
“He’s still so young,” Zumwalt said. “His skillset is phenomenal. It doesn’t do him any justice to try to go bigger on anything whether he’s fielding a ground ball or getting a bunt down or anything. He’s just got to trust in his own naturalness.”
As for making the the club out of camp this season, Witt seems to have accepted that’s out of his hands.
“Really, it’s all about timing,” Witt said. “It’s not really my decision. I’ve just got to go out there and perform and do my job. Now, I know that.”
