Remember the baseball player in DFW Bobby Witt Jr., who won a state title with Colleyville Heritage in 2019. Well, he is now making mega millions in the major league after agreeing to a historic extension with the Kansas City Royals on Monday.
Witt Jr., among the greatest HS players in DFW and state history, agreed to an 11-year extension with the team – worth over $288 million according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, who also went on to say that the deal has opt-outs after the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th years of his 11-year contract. It also includes a three-year club option that can take the total value of the deal to 14 years and $377.7 million.
A high school All-American with Colleyville Heritage Witt Jr. will be entering his third major league season with the Royals and made franchise history last 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.
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.
