The Royals appear to have avoided the worst on Bobby Witt Jr. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that the superstar shortstop avoided any fractures after being hit by a pitch in the left forearm/wrist area this afternoon. Kansas City subsequently announced that Witt sustained a forearm contusion and said he’d be reevaluated tomorrow.
Manager Matt Quatraro said immediately after the game that Witt was headed for x-rays (relayed by Anne Rogers of MLB.com). Last year’s AL MVP runner-up left the game after he was struck by a 96 MPH sinker from Andrés Muñoz. Quatraro said Witt initially lost the feeling in his fingers, though the manager added that “it was coming back” postgame. He framed the x-ray as more of a precautionary measure.
The team can breathe a sigh of relief after that initial testing. Lingering soreness could raise the possibility of a season-opening injured list stint, but he’s unlikely to face an extended absence. Maikel Garcia would likely step in at shortstop if Witt misses any time. That’d temporarily leave second and third base to the combination of Michael Massey and Jonathan India.
Witt is coming off one of the best seasons in franchise history. He won the batting title while hitting .332/.389/.588. Witt led the majors with 211 hits, including 45 doubles and 32 home runs. He stole 31 bases while earning Gold Glove and Silver Slugger honors. Witt started 160 games at shortstop and logged nearly 1400 innings. Garcia, who played 22 1/3 innings at the position, picked up the other two starts.
Injury prone, and terrible contract
Congrats Rex! I nominate your comment for most idiotic comment of the day! You should be proud!
@rondarling. Cheers.
Second that.
RH66 has to be the dumbest poster on this site. He once opined that the Angels C was worth 5 top 100 prospects from the Cubs although he’ll deny it. He then opined that the Vikings overpaid for Fries and Ryan when his team employs Anthony Rendon so there it is , Proof. But anyway this is about Witt so heavy sigh for KC who would have started the season in a big hole. Speedy recovery.
@unclemike. Worth and asking price is different. I said that was the asking price and it wasn’t going to happen and the article was bs. Why would they trade a young catcher that’s playing well unless it was absolute haul. After I posted that on fries. Every talking head and sports writer has echoed the same sentiments.
You should be banned for 15 days for the worst comment yet
Injury prone?
150 games
158 games
161 games
Hopefully it was sarcasm, but they let anyone post here.
@vtadave. Serious as a fart in church
Nothing w a little flatulence
Of course it was sarcasm. I found it funny. Amazing how serious some take these.
Are you sure about that?
@darren to make it clear I was making a outlandish comment. There was also 8 comments after that ignored it. I was knocking the trolls cough cough darren.
This was a good joke. Tough room
@yoyo. Wasn’t supposed to be funny was meant to be very obvious.
Well… it was funny.
Thats a sentence that sounds better when I just see it as random letters. I’m not even going to contest it with words of my own.
Hopefully he is good to go. I drafted him first overall 🙂
I got Carroll and Soto on one team and Mookie on another. Better than last year, when I drafted Acuna and Strider…
@clofreesz. I drafted strider last year, because Nolan ryan said the reason why Tommy johns happen is because they don’t workout the legs enough figured quadzilla was safe.
Last year was a disaster for me. On the bright side, I got Skubal on 3 teams with 6th/7th round picks. Hoping for a better 2025. (Tried to draft Langford, but was too late. Had to compensate with James Wood and Dylan Crews.)
Nolan also worked a farm in the offseason if I recall. The best workouts are those from plain hard work, the natural way.
I’d listen to anything Nolan said. He pitched at a high level til he was well in his 40s and they weren’t just five innings. Impressive.
@this. I thought the same. Randy Johnson also was impressive. Pitchers aren’t built the same. Probably better to roll the dice in pitching for fantasy.
There are just anomalies in life. Nolan Ryan is one.
You could go follow his routine but I seriously doubt that’s what made him so healthy and let his career go that long.
I drafted him 3 years ago and stashed him on my bench for a whole season. Best pick I ever made.
In my 3 leagues, I’ve gotten Witt, and Gunnar twice… 4th draft on Saturday. Picking 12th/12..
Lol there should be no way Witt is available at 12. Gunnar on the other hand… Not a knock on him, just that with his injury, people seem to be a little cautious about picking him up
No, I drafted much earlier than 12 those 3 times….
Probably get Vlad Jr./Yordan & Lindor. Avoid J-Rod & Tatis, as they hit in pitchers’ ballparks.
Wow! Dodged a bullet there.
If you can’t pitch inside without hitting the batter then don’t pitch inside.
Huh? Dumb comment. If you can’t get out of the way, don’t crowd the plate…
Hitters are diving into the plate more and more after the league disciplines anyone pitching inside.
30 years ago, they would be knocked on their keister next pitch.
“Dumb comment”..You think hbp is all on the batter? Talk about a “dumb comment”…
Bro- I don’t think it’s on anybody, hitter or pitcher. Pitching inside and getting hit is part of the game. Your coming is ignorant of pitching and baseball in general.
Please think critically about your statement “if you can’t pitch inside w/o hitting a batter, then don’t pitch inside”. That is a ignorant comment and shows lack of understanding the game. Pitchers have the right to pitch inside and sometimes guys get hit. What are they supposed to do? Tee one up over the plate???
I disagree HBP is part of the game, it is simply going to happen from time too time.
MPBTR needs a thumbs-down button for the most assenine comments.
@bob maybe a down vote for spelling errors
#bringbackthedownvote
As his Fantasy Owner… phewwww!
Kinky!
I hate hearing news like this…Bobby Witt Jr is one of the most exciting young players in MLB and he is one of the few that I would pay money to watch in person
You might want to reread & rethink your comment. This news is pretty much the BEST news one could expect to get. The WORST would probably be either a broken wrist.
No need to reread or rethink my comment…it was made before results of any test came back and I’m glad it’s nothing serious…sore for a bit but nothing broken or torn. I’m actually going to be at a Royals game in June and am looking forward to seeing Witt play in person.
Good to hear it came back negative. Would not be fun without him playing the game.
Good for the game that one of the high profile players dodged a bullet…even though he didn’t dodge that pitch!
Overpay. Glass
Glad he’s ok
Baseball needs it’s young, marquee players on the field.
I read contusion as John Mulaney as Ice-T… if you know you know. The more you know…
Dun dun
Glad that he is okay and won’t be out too long.
Hopefully he takes this as a lesson to get out of the f***ing way.
This kid can play. Glad it’s “just” a contusion.
“Bruise” sounds detracting and babyish 🙂 Ever notice all injuries related to baseball players…not football, fixate on medical terminology to convey a more serious tone ?
Cramp=Flexor grade 1 strain !
They use medical terminology (aka terms/words) due to us baseball fans being educated. But they think we as football fans are smart as a pile of rocks. So,they dumb it down to everyday words so that we Neanderthals can understand it.