Bobby Witt Jr. Would Be Baseball’s Biggest Star If He Didn’t Play For The Royals

If Bobby Witt Jr. wore pinstripes or red socks, you’d hear about him 24/7/365 on ESPN and FOX.

Since he wears a Kansas City Royals uniform, he might as well be in the witness protection program. But he might be closer than one realizes to breaking the shroud of anonymity that normally surrounds even star players in small markets.

As in this year’s American League Most Valuable Player.

Just over a fourth of the way through 162 games, Witt leads the league in WAR with 2.7. Multiply that by four and he might get to 10 when the season’s done. And if he does, Kansas City might earn its first playoff spot since winning the 2015 World Series.

The son of former MLB pitcher Bobby Witt has seemingly been groomed for this kind of greatness since the Royals picked him second overall five years ago and lavished nearly $8 million on him to sign.

It took him only 161 minor league games to make his way to the big club. There was no reason to wait any longer. It was a right place, right time deal for Witt because Kansas City was in year five of its building project and in position to give its top prospect all the rope he needed.

There were mistakes in his first two years. Lots of strikeouts, not enough walks. But he also jacked 20 homers and swiped 30 bases as a rookie, then came within a steal of being a 30-50 man last year.

So the Royals proceeded to break about three banks in February. A team that never awarded a player a deal of more than $82 million signed Witt to a $288.7 million, 11-year contract with option years that could extend it to $377.7 million over 14 years.

“It makes you go out there and you have to prove something,” he said to mlb.com in February after signing. “That’s what you do each and every day when you’re in the offseason, when you’re up late at night looking at video, whatever it is. That’s why you play this game.”

Having gotten his bag, Witt has so far played with the desperation of someone looking for their first big deal while adding new-found nuance to his skillset. He’s hitting above .300 for the first time and his walk rate is going up while his strikeout rate is going down. He’s quickly become one of the top betting picks to win American League MVP.

More importantly, and perhaps this is because Kansas City has better players around him, Witt is on pace to score more than 140 runs. Or to put it another way, he’s scored nearly 20 percent of the team’s runs.

Then there’s his defense. 

Not only is he making routine plays with more consistency, he’s still turning in video game plays. Just ask the Angels’ Nolan Schanuel, who saw Witt range an obscene 129 feet to make a sliding snag of a pop fly on the left field line to take away a hit last week.

Witt has according to one metric been better than any other MLB player but Mookie Betts. There’s at least one personality at the Worldwide Leader who’ll note this and begin searching for a path to bring him to the New York Knicks.