Like Patrick Mahomes across the parking lot, Witt is a potential face of his sport with one goal: Bringing championships to Kansas City.
Alden Gonzalez sorts through a loaded shortstop position to make his pick for the best in the big leagues. . manifests itself on nearly every square inch of a baseball field. His swing is short and to the point, like the man himself, and it thwacks balls from foul pole to foul pole, often past them. His glove and arm are pocket aces -- individually excellent, together almost unassailable.
All the tools were there when Witt debuted two years ago, but to see them turn into skills so quickly suggests the sort of trajectory that can carry the Royals to heights unseen in nearly a decade. Since they won the World Series in 2015, the Royals haven't had a winning season and have lost at least 103 games three times. Witt believed enough in the franchise's offseason -- in which Kansas City guaranteed more than $100 million to free agents -- to sign an 11-year, $288.
"And that's the thing," Brett said that day."I don't want to put any pressure on him. It's hard enough to play in the big leagues. So many players get here and they don't know what they're doing. But he's different. He's a natural."Witt's ascent took no one by surprise. By his sophomore year at Colleyville Heritage High, he was his class' No. 1-ranked player in the nation. A year later, he won the High School Home Run Derby.
Witt's bugaboos were high fastballs and early-count swings. He didn't tinker with his mechanics, though. He rarely does. Witt's best chance at adjusting to high fastballs was cranking up a pitching machine to feed him 105-mph invisiballs. He paired them with sliders that moved more than any human arm is capable of producing."I try to do things in the cage that are almost harder than in the game," Witt said.
From the day of the Duran enervation through the end of the 2023 season, Witt batted .323/.369/.598 with 14 home runs and 45 RBIs in 56 games. He ended the year with 5.9 wins above replacement, cut his strikeout rate in half, upped his walk rate and turned from a mediocre defender at shortstop to one of the best in Major League Baseball. What the Royals believed he would be when they drafted him, what Brett thought he saw on the day of the debut, Witt was now demonstrating.
The Royals knew they needed to pay Witt closer to free agent value compared to some of the other team-friendly deals signed by his peers. As much as Witt loved the embrace of Kansas City, the losing exasperated him. Signing this deal was a gamble for Witt, even after Sherman kept his word and guaranteed more money in free agency this winter than his previous four years owning the team combined.
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