Five stunning Bobby Witt Jr. plays from the KC Royals star’s breakout 2024 season
Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. got the bag in February, then went out and showed it was money well-spent by the Royals.
Witt signed a 14-year contract extension, which includes $288.7 million guaranteed, shortly before spring training. He then had one of the best seasons in Royals history.
While playing in 161 games this year, Witt set career bests in hits, doubles, home runs, RBIs, runs scored, walks and batting average.
Witt has shown star power while at the plate, running the bases or playing at shortstop. Here are five of his top plays from the season.
1. Bobby bomb
Witt obliterated a baseball thrown by Tigers starter Casey Mize, hitting it 468 feet into the fountains during a game on May 21.
“I didn’t really watch it,” Witt nonchalantly said afterward. “I just kind of hit it and started running. But yeah, it felt good to kind of do that.”
Witt had two home runs and six RBIs that night.
2. Turning two
The Dodgers’ Andy Pages was robbed of a bloop single in shallow left field by Witt, who made an incredible catch during a June 14 game. That was only part of what made the play so good..
Witt then spun and threw the ball to second baseman Nick Loftin, who doubled Teoscar Hernandez off first.
“I was just trying to make something happen,” Witt said after the game. “I was able to kind of get a good jump on it a little bit and knew there was a chance (Hernandez) was going to be off first base.”
3. A grand turnaround
The Royals trailed the White Sox 5-2 on July 29 at Guaranteed Rate Field but got two runs back on home runs in the eighth inning. Witt stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs and finished off a six-run frame with a grand slam.
“Definitely fired up,” Witt said afterward. “Anytime you take a lead like that against an in-division team, it’s a lot of fun.”
4. Web gem(s)
We’ll stay with that game against the White Sox to show how Witt helped the Royals close out the victory.
Witt made two simply incredible defensive plays in the ninth inning. I’ll let you decide which one is better.
“That guy’s incredible,” manager Matt Quatraro said afterward. “Obviously, a go-ahead grand slam, you aren’t going to get any bigger than that. Then watching those defensive plays, there were so many things that he did so well tonight, it’s hard to really remember them all in the moment.”
5. Superman to the rescue
During the Royals’ 3-0 win over the Nationals on Tuesday, Witt made this diving stop. He was parallel to the ground.
This story was originally published September 30, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
