The future couldn’t have looked better for the Kansas City Royals in 2024. They had one of baseball’s brightest young stars in Bobby Witt Jr. and reached the postseason for the first time in nine years.
Two years later, the Royals still have Witt and the 26-year-old three-time All-Star shortstop remains one of baseball’s top young players. However, the Royals’ postseason run, which included upsetting the Baltimore Orioles in an American League Wild Card Series, seems like eons ago.
The Royals are 67-89 going into their final six games and are likely to finish last in the AL Central. That is quite a drop from their 86-76 record two years ago and even their 82-80 mark of last season.
Witt isn’t going anywhere. He is signed through 2030 and there are player and team options from 2031-37 in Witt’s seven-year, $148.78-million contract.
Bobby Witt Jr. and the Royals aren't heading in the right direction
Witt’s career continues to ascend as his 6.5 bWAR this season is third in the AL behind New York Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler (7.0) and Detroit Tigers rookie infielder Kevin McGonigle (6.7). Witt is hitting .279/.359/.440 with 18 home runs and 43 stolen bases in 137 games.
Yet the Royals are descending as they have the fifth-worst record in the major leagues. It’s hard not to think that the franchise is beginning to waste a golden opportunity while having Witt under contract.
Team | Win % |
|---|---|
Royals | .429 |
Giants | .414 |
Athletics | .391 |
Angels | .385 |
Rockies | .365 |
Witt is obviously disappointed with the way this season has played out. However, he is not the type of person who is going to publicly going to criticize the organization or tell president of baseball operations J.J. Piccolo how to do his job.
“I think we need some pieces, which you can tell from looking at our record,” Witt told FanSided. “But I know for me personally and most of the guys that the season has been disappointing in the sense that it hasn’t come close to turning out like we wanted it to just because we didn't perform the way we wanted to. We felt like we had the team to go where we wanted to go in spring training and coming into the season.”
The last time the Royals were over .500 was on April Fools Day when they beat the visiting Minnesota Twins 13-9 at Kauffman Stadium to improve to 3-2. An eight-game losing streak from April 12-20 dropped the Royals to 7-16 and they’ve never recovered despite having a nine-game winning streak in August.
“We just got away from playing good baseball this year,” Witt said. “We just need to get back to playing our game, not overthinking things and just doing the little things that can make us a good team.
“I think it's just kind of make sure we're just focused each and every day, focus on our work, and that the emphasis has to be on doing whatever we can to win each night’s game.”
The Royals have not been good on either side of the ball. They are 24th in MLB in runs scored with 4.21 per game and 25th in runs allowed with a 4.86 average.
Why Bobby Witt Jr. shoulders the blame for Royals tough season
Though Witt ranks among the AL leaders in bWAR, he is not happy about his season and takes his share of the responsibility for the lost season.
“It’s one of those things where you learn a lot about who you are individually and how you can become better,” Witt said. “I feel like that's something to take away from this year. Learn how to kind of be more mentally sound throughout the entire year going through the bumps and bruises throughout a long season and trying to get better every day.”
The Kansas City Royals will miss the playoffs pic.twitter.com/sHNtE1C9Ah
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 16, 2026
The Royals, though, do not plan to rebuild this upcoming winter. Piccolo signaled that the Royals plan to contend next season at this year’s trade deadline when he surprisingly rebuffed offers for veteran right-hander Michael Wacha, who has one year remaining on his contract.
Witt is one of four players in the lineup who is 26 or younger, giving the Royals potentially the foundation of a good team. Catcher Carter Jensen’s 25 home runs are a franchise single season record for a rookie. Right fielder Jac Caglianone has 23 homers, 71 RBIs and a team-leading .821 OPS. Though his season has been ruined by a torn hamstring, third baseman Maikel Garcia was an All-Star last year.
“All you ever want is to play in the postseason and it was so much fun two years ago,” Witt said. “To kind of take a step back from that, you get frustrated. You also got to learn from it, build from it and just know that there's a lot of work to do to get back to that position.”
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