Of all the greats that have put on the Kansas City Royals jersey – like George Brett, Frank White, Alex Gordon and Carlos Beltran (just to name a few) – no one has accomplished what Bobby Witt Jr. has accomplished.
Witt Jr., who was an All-American at Colleyville Heritage HS, continues to shine as a pro.
Junior finished his second major league season with the Royals and made franchise history. Last Friday on Sept. 30 – the third to final game of the season, he smacked a 423-foot home run for his 30th of the season. He became the first Royals player with 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in a season.
Also the first with 30 and 40.
Witt Jr. nearly had 50 swipes, but did finish the season with career highs – 0.276 batting average, 0.319 on base percentage, 0.495 slugging, 0.813 OPS, 177 hits, 11 triples, 30 home runs, 96 RBIs, 49 steals and 317 total bases. He also had 28 doubles and his 11 triples led all of MLB.
Last year he was the first player since Ronald Acuna in 2019 to post 20 homers and 30 steals under the age of 22. He joined an elite group that included Acuna, Barry Bonds (1997), Alex Rodriguez (1998) and Mike Trout (2012, 2013). He’s the first player in MLB history to post 20 HR-30 steals in each of his first two seasons.
In just two seasons with KC, Junior has played in 308 games with a 0.265 batting average, 327 hits, 59 doubles, 50 homers, 17 triples, 176 runs batted in, 79 steals and 179 runs scored.
A graduate in 2019 from Heritage, the No. 1 overall prospect helped the Panthers to the Class 5A state championship, was District MVP, Gatorade Texas and National Player of the Year and Star-Telegram all-area MVP. He was picked No. 2 overall by the Royals.
He batted 0.500 as a senior with 63 hits, 37 going for extra bases. He finished with 15 home runs and 44 RBI while recording a .575 on-base percentage and 1.095 slugging percentage.
Witt Jr.’s father, Witt Sr., played in the MLB for 16 years with 11 coming as a Texas Ranger.
