Royals All-Star Slugger Has Chance To Pull Off Something Incredible This Season
The Kansas City Royals turned things around this season tremendously after finishing fifth in the American League Central with an embarrassing 56-106 record in 2023.
To go from finishing with the No. 2 worst record in baseball last season to having a 4 1/2 game lead for the last American League Wild Card spot this close to the playoffs is quite the turnaround.
Baseball is a team sport, so the Royals' success can't solely be attributed to one player. However, a rising superstar's statistics prove that the team likely couldn't have done it without him.
Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. has posted a 9.6 WAR this season and only trails New York Yankees Aaron Judge, who leads the young infielder by 0.1 and hasn't hit a home run since Aug. 25 when he belted two against the Colorado Rockies.
Essentially, the WAR stat measures how valuable a player is to a team. If a player posts a 0.0 WAR, he would be considered average and anything above an 8.0 WAR is typically only reached by league MVPs and Cy Young recipients.
Witt is batting an incredible .340 with 80 extra-base hits including 30 home runs, 97 RBIs and a 1.006 OPS without missing a single game all season for the Royals.
The 24-year-old is arguably the best shortstop in the league and is playing in just his third season after debuting with Kansas City in 2022.
If Witt can overcome Judge for WAR leader, then he could build a stronger case for being selected over the home run leader for AL MVP. There's a solid chance the Royals slugger will finish the season on top if he can keep it up to close out the remarkable year he's having.
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NATE HAGERTY
Nate Hagerty joined "Kansas City Royals On SI" to expand his coverage beyond his work with “St. Louis Cardinals On SI.” Hagerty has been involved in baseball in some capacity since he was seven years old and began a career in sports journalism shortly after graduating from Bridgewater State in 2022. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org