The something extra that sets up Bobby Witt Jr. for MLB stardom with Kansas City Royals
Kansas City Royals senior adviser for baseball operations Rusty Kuntz recognized the unmistakable combination present in Bobby Witt Jr. He saw it a little more than 30 years ago in another major-league baseball son who went by “Junior.”
Kuntz, a longtime big-league coach who started with the Seattle Mariners, was there when a young superstar named Ken Griffey Jr. broke into the Major Leagues.
Kuntz made the comparison between Witt and Griffey on two fronts.
First, there’s the five-tool aspect of their talents. Griffey could impact a game every day with a different ability.
Second, he possessed a competitive edge like few others.
Griffey had this “beast” that came out at first pitch. Kuntz sees a similar trait in Witt. Griffey and Witt also each display joyfulness on the field and have an affable demeanor that conceals their edge. But that edge elevated Griffey to a Hall of Fame career.
Witt’s remarkable talent has been evident since he was barely a teenager. Physically, he’s gifted with an elite blend of speed, strength, flexibility and adaptability. From a baseball-skills standpoint, he’s shown all the requisite tools. He can run, throw, field, hit and hit for power at an advanced level.
But the drive to be better than every adversary and an insatiable desire to chase victory, that’s his extra tool.
“When he’s out there he’s a tremendous competitor,” Royals senior director of player development/hitting performance Alec Zumwalt told The Star as he pointed to the baseball diamond. “That’s a big part of what has made him so good. I think that’s going to carry throughout his career. He’s got that quiet edge to him.”
Talent and bloodlines surely helped put Witt on a track toward stardom, but those traits alone haven’t precipitated his rise in the baseball world. Baseball America, ESPN.com, Fangraphs.com and MLBPipeline.com each ranked Witt among the top three prospects in the sport. MLBPipeline.com ranked him No. 1 overall.
The Royals announced on Tuesday that Witt will be elevated to their major-league roster, and he’s expected to start at third base for his debut with the Royals on Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday against Cleveland.
At 21 years, 297 days old, Witt will become the youngest position player in Royals history to make his major-league debut on Opening Day, breaking the previous mark set by Alex Gordon (23 years, 51 days).
“These kids grow up playing video games and they’ve got all their cheat codes. Well, that’s Bob’s cheat code — his competitiveness,” Zumwalt said. “He’s ultra-competitive.
“I saw it last year in Omaha. Just shooting baskets by the cage. Just messing around. No, he was going to make as many as he can and he’s going to try to beat everybody out there.”
A humble beast
Colleyville Heritage (Texas) High School baseball coach Alan McDougal has known Witt for more than two-thirds of his life. McDougal is well versed in Witt’s considerable exploits on the field, his humble and unassuming nature, as well as the “cheat code” or the “beast” — or whatever descriptors best fit Witt’s competitive fire.
When told of the Griffey comparison, McDougal laughed.
“It’s the worst kind,” the coach said, “in which he’s going to cut your throat, he’s going to have a smile on his face while he does and you’re not even mad at him.
“It’s frustrating. I’m glad I’ve been on my side of it. Because for most of his successes in high school, I was getting to be successful as well.”
Witt started for Colleyville Heritage from the first game his freshman year. He did everything right, never carried himself as though he were above anyone else. He wanted to be better for his team.
“It’s almost one in which you see how humble he is with the talents that he’s got, you go ‘Man is this real? There’s got to be some crack in his armor,’” said McDougal, who credits Witt’s parents. “I’ve known him since he was 6 and I haven’t seen it yet. We’re all human and are going to drop the ball at some point. I haven’t seen it from his standpoint. It’s been fun, fun, fun to watch.”
As a senior at Colleyville Heritage, Witt earned the Gatorade national Player of the Year award. He led his team to a 39-3 record and the Texas Class 5A state championship.
He slashed .482/.562/1.051 with 15 doubles, nine triples, 15 home runs, and 55 RBIs to go with 19 steals in 22 attempts. In 12 relief appearances as a pitcher, he recorded five saves, a 1.80 ERA, 24 strikeouts, just three walks and a 1.03 WHIP in 11 2/3 innings.
“He’s got a competitive nature,” McDougal said. “I just don’t think it comes across in people’s face because he wants to let his game speak for it. He doesn’t need anything else.”
McDougal also remembers specific instances when he witnessed Witt “almost flip a switch.”
There was the time late in the playoffs when the team had a chance to clinch a series, and Witt came on to close the game. Throwing 94-97 mph, he got knocked around like McDougal hadn’t seen in a “long time” for a walk-off loss.
Witt immediately wanted the ball again the next day.
In a similar situation 24 hours later, Witt shut the door and closed out the series against that same team. And his demeanor never changed. His tone never changed. But beneath the surface, a fire raged.
Then there was the team trip to Top Golf, players blasting golf balls off tees for accuracy and distance.
When they started, Witt was among the last three in the team rankings.
But, as McDougal recalled, “By the time we left an hour and a half later, he was number one. He just said, ‘I’m going to figure this thing out and I’m going to beat all you guys.’ It’s nuts.”
When Witt participated in All-Star games filled with the cream of the crop, he still stood out. Prior to his senior year, he homered and won the MVP of the Under Armour All-American Game at Wrigley Field.
In December 2018, Witt helped Team USA win a gold medal at the COPABE Pan-American Championships. In the deciding game, he dominated so thoroughly that he’d hit for the cycle by the fifth inning.
“One of the mantras that we always talked about was ‘We don’t rise to the level of our competition. We fall to the level of our preparation,’” McDougal said. “And that dude is ultimately prepared, so when the stuff is fixing to hit the fan — and it hits the fan a lot — he’s ready. He may not be successful, but I promise you he wants the chance to be successful. That’s also another thing that separates him.”
Ready for the biggest stage
The one-on-one challenges within the larger game appeal to Witt more deeply than the allure of any supposed big stage.
“That’s why this game is so great, it’s you versus the pitcher,” the 21-year-old phenom said. “But then you’re also playing for your guys. You’re playing for your team. So you’ve just got to go up there and do your job whether it’s to get a runner over or get a runner in or whatever it is. You’ve got to beat that pitcher.”
Witt, who has drawn comparisons to Alex Rodriguez and Hall of Famer Chipper Jones, doesn’t view his competitive drive as anything other than natural.
His father spent parts of 16 seasons in the majors. When the two got into a batting cage — the former big-league pitcher throwing to his son — that individual matchup got competitive.
During Witt’s offseason workouts with other pros, everything turned into a competition.
Even now, he competes with whoever is throwing him batting practice before a given game.
“I love competing and trying to win,” Witt said. “I hate losing. It gets me going.”
That’s who he is. It’s why he didn’t feel nerves when stepped into the batter’s box during Spring Training 2.0 at Kauffman Stadium during the summer of 2020 and faced veteran and World Series champion Danny Duffy.
Witt took the best that Duffy, the Royals’ most accomplished starting pitcher at the time, had to offer and either fought it off or lined it right back at him. He actually hit Duffy in the backside with a comebacker, at one point.
Last year, when Witt joined the rest of baseball’s top prospects in the All-Star Futures Game, playing in front of a large crowd at the same ballpark where the MLB All-Star Game would be played a couple of days later, he took the experience in stride.
“Those big stages, it just feels right for me going up there,” Witt said.
Whether or not Witt ascends to the career heights attained by the previous “Junior” remains to be seen. But he’s already earned the stamp of approval from the current face of the franchise in KC, All-Star catcher and former World Series MVP Salvador Perez.
“I feel pretty comfortable with him at third base. I think he’s going to do a tremendous job for us, help the team win,” Perez told The Star last week before Witt’s promotion had become official.
As for Witt’s boyish enthusiasm and humble nature, Perez views those traits as genuine. Perez also sees a fire crackling just beneath the surface.
“He’s really humble,” Perez said. “But when he plays, he’s going to play hard. He’s always that way. He grew up like that.
“As a player, he’s one of the best I’ve ever seen here in Kansas City.”
This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
