Bobby Witt Jr. reportedly set to break camp with the Kansas City Royals
Kansas City Royals top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. has already made the major-league roster, according to a report from MLB Network insider and longtime baseball writer Jon Heyman.
Witt, one of the most highly regarded young players in professional baseball, has long been expected to break camp with the major-league team as the starting third baseman even though he’s currently not on the club’s 40-man roster.
A roster move will be required to add Witt to the 40-man before he can be added to the active major-league roster for opening day.
As of Saturday evening, the Royals official stance remained that they had no announcement on Witt and that he hadn’t been told anything as camp is still ongoing.
The Royals have three Cactus League spring training games remaining before they break camp in Arizona and return to Kansas City in advance of their season opener against the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium.
Heyman’s report came in a post on Twitter. He did not cite a source and simply stated what has been viewed as an inevitability most of this offseason and spring training as though it were a matter of fact.
Witt, the son of the former major-league pitcher with the same name, won national high school player of the year honors in 2019.
The Royals selected the 6-foot-1 right-handed hitting shortstop in that year’s MLB Draft with the No. 2 overall pick out of Colleyville Heritage High School in Texas.
Last year in his first full season in the minors, Witt 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.
MLBPipeline.com ranked Witt, 21, the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball earlier this spring.
Baseball America ranked Witt as its No. 3 overall prospect, while ESPN.com’s Kiley McDaniel and Fangraphs.com each ranked Witt as the No. 2 prospect in the sport.
“It’s motivation for me,” Witt said earlier in camp of being ranked the top prospect by MLBPipeline.com. “It’s one step closer to graduating from that list, and that’s my ultimate goal. One guy I worked out with told me that prospects have done nothing until you get there and graduate from that list. …
“Yeah, this was part of it. This is awesome. I’ll cherish it for however long. Now, it’s time to hopefully get up there with the big boys.”
This story was originally published April 2, 2022 at 7:19 PM.
