Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. dealing with right knee soreness. Here’s the latest
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- Bobby Witt Jr. left Sunday’s game after his right knee soreness progressed during play.
- The Royals say the knee soreness isn’t structural and hope rest readies him for Tuesday.
- Witt leads MLB with a 3.8 WAR and is batting .280 with nine homers this season.
Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. left Sunday’s 6-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins with right knee soreness.
Witt was replaced in the bottom of the seventh inning.
“Nothing acute,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of the injury. “No onset. Just kind of usage. You know, it feels like it got progressively worse during the game.”
Witt finished 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. He endured a few long at-bats in his four plate appearances. In the third inning, Witt had a nine-pitch sequence against Twins starter Connor Prielipp that resulted in a strikeout.
“The only thing he said was that long at-bat, which was in the third I believe, he started to feel it more because it’s his right knee,” Quatraro said. “As he loaded and kept taking swing after swing, he started to feel it more at that point.”
Witt has appeared in every game. He currently leads all players with a 3.8 WAR according to Baseball Reference.
This season, Witt owns a .280 batting average with 73 hits, nine homers and 27 RBIs. He also owns an .810 OPS (on-base plus slugging).
The Royals took a cautious approach with the injury. The club hopes Witt will be ready to go Tuesday night against the Texas Rangers at Kauffman Stadium.
“With the off day tomorrow, we feel good about him getting the rest and hopefully being ready for Tuesday,” Quatraro said. “But we don’t think it’s anything structural.”
The Royals are a little banged up offensively. KC duo Salvador Perez and Jac Caglianone also didn’t play in Sunday’s finale.
Perez is nursing a sore right thumb. He was hit by a wild pitch Friday night and missed the last two games. The Royals are optimistic he can play Tuesday as he waits for the swelling to dissipate.
Caglianone ran into the right-field wall Friday. He attempted to catch a foul ball off the bat of Twins utilityman Austin Martin.
In Saturday’s game, Caglianone left early with right shoulder soreness.
He felt better Sunday as the Royals continued to evaluate him. The club didn’t use him off the bench, and he could be back in the lineup on Tuesday.
