Bobby Witt Jr.

Julio Rodriguez Wins American League Rookie Of The Year Award

By Darragh McDonald and Anthony Franco | November 14, 2022 at 5:56pm CDT

Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez has won the Rookie of the Year award in the American League for 2022, according to an announcement from the Baseball Writers Association of America. Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman finished second in the voting, while Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan checked in third.

This year’s rookie class in the Junior Circuit was remarkable, headlined by Rodríguez and Rutschman. The pair of top prospects both hit the ground running against MLB pitching. Seattle carried Rodríguez on the roster as their Opening Day center fielder, looking to build off their surprising 90-win campaign in 2021. The young outfielder got off to a tough start, thanks in part to a number of questionable strike calls in the early going, but he eventually emerged as the best position player on a good Seattle club.

Over 560 plate appearances, Rodríguez posted a .284/.345/.509 line. He connected on 28 home runs and swiped 25 bases in 32 attempts, one of just four players (Kyle Tucker, Adolis García and Marcus Semien being the others) to reach 25 longballs and steals apiece. Rodríguez was particularly electric in the second half, putting up a .303/.361/.576 line coming out of the All-Star Break to help Seattle cruise to its first postseason appearance in more than two decades.

Rodríguez also impressed on the other side of the ball, starting 130 games and playing 1126 2/3 innings in center field. Both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast credited him with above-average defense, no small feat for a player whom some prospect evaluators suggested might be a better fit for right field. The 21-year-old looks to have put any questions about his defensive home to bed for the time being.

While Rodríguez is surely thrilled to secure Rookie of the Year honors on its own merits, the selection has a tangible effect on the team as well. The new collective bargaining agreement contained measures designed to counteract service time manipulation through the so-called “prospect promotion incentive.” Top-two Rookie of the Year finishers who were Top 100 prospects on at least two preseason lists at Baseball America, ESPN and MLB Pipeline are automatically credited with a full service year. That’s a moot point for Rodríguez, who’d have qualified for a full service year after tallying 172-plus days on the MLB roster regardless. He also signed a massive contract extension midseason that overwrites his path to arbitration and free agency.

The second portion of the PPI does come into effect, though. A team that promotes a player for a full service year who meets the aforementioned prospect criteria and entered the year with less than 60 days of MLB service who subsequently finishes top two in ROY balloting (or top three in Cy Young or MVP voting during their pre-arbitration seasons) earns a bonus draft pick after the first round. Seattle carried Rodríguez on the roster all year, so they’ll collect an extra pick in the 2023 draft in recognition of his achievements.

Rutschman and Kwan check in as runners-up after very strong years in their own right. Baltimore’s catcher hit .254/.362/.445 with 13 home runs in 470 plate appearances. His second-place finish earns him a full year of service time as well. Kwan doesn’t that get that honor for third place, but he earned a full service year after breaking camp in Cleveland regardless. Rutschman’s former teammate at Oregon State, Kwan hit .298/.373/.400 across 638 plate appearances to help the Guards to a division title.

Rodríguez received 29 of 30 first-place votes, while Rutschman collected the other. Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, the lone voter to place Rutschman ahead of Rodríguez, explained his thought process in a well-reasoned Twitter thread. Rodríguez was the only player to be named on all 30 ballots. Rutschman was selected on 28 ballots, while Kwan earned 24 combined second or third-place votes. Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña and Mariners righty George Kirby also picked up some support.

Full vote breakdown found here.

AL Notes: Picollo, Harris, Tigers, Perez, Rangers, Diaz

By Mark Polishuk | September 24, 2022 at 10:08pm CDT

After Dayton Moore was fired earlier this week, Royals GM J.J. Picollo was promoted to lead the Royals’ baseball operations department, and he met today with the media (including The Kansas City Star’s Lynn Worthy and 610 Sports Radio’s Josh Vernier). Much has yet to be determined heading into what could be a busy offseason for the club, and Picollo said he has yet to make a decision on manager Mike Matheny or any members of the coaching staff.

In terms of players, Picollo said that the front office is “in the very infantile stages” of considering an extension for Bobby Witt Jr., though the team is indeed interested in such a deal. The 22-year-old is completing a strong rookie season, and an extension would both solidify Witt as a cornerstone piece of the Royals’ future, and also give K.C. some cost certainty going forward. Witt is already controlled through the 2027 season, however, so there isn’t necessarily any rush for Picollo and company to immediately work out an extension.

Injury Notes: Alvarez, Reynolds, Garcia, Witt

By Mark Polishuk | July 24, 2022 at 5:23pm CDT

Yordan Alvarez wasn’t in today’s Astros lineup, as the slugger is still dealing with soreness in his right hand. The same injury already sent Alvarez to the 10-day injured list for a minimum stay prior to the All-Star break, and medical tests during that IL stint didn’t reveal any structural damage. Still, manager Dusty Baker told reporters (including Chandler Rome of The Houston Chronicle) that the Astros will be giving Alvarez some occasional time off due to this seemingly lingering injury. “We knew we were going to have to give him a blow every now and then, but he was sore and we don’t want it to get more sore,” Baker said.

With two homers in 13 plate appearances in his four games since returning from the IL, Alvarez didn’t seem too hampered by this recurring hand problem, though some additional rest could certainly prevent a more severe injury. The last thing Alvarez and the Astros would want is a lengthier IL trip interrupting both Alvarez’s spectacular season and his potential availability for the playoffs. Alvarez is hitting a whopping .307/.407/.668 over 329 PA in 2022, leading the majors in both slugging percentage and OPS.

More injury updates from around baseball….

Bryan Reynolds told Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he is aiming to return from the 10-day injured list during the Pirates’ upcoming two-games series with the Cubs on Monday and Tuesday. A left oblique strain sent Reynolds to the 10-day injured list on July 11, though it seems as though he has avoided the lengthy absence that can often come from oblique problems. In fact, the IL stint may have prevented a longer-term issue, as Reynolds said the injury “had been bothering me for a few series before. It got to the point where I needed to say something. I didn’t want to make it worse.” While his return prior to the trade deadline will inevitable spur on more rumors, there isn’t much expectation that the Pirates will actually deal Reynolds, unless another club meets Pittsburgh’s huge demands.
It looks as though Rony Garcia is heading back to the injured list, as Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jason Beck) that Garcia felt bicep discomfort during today’s start. Garcia was only just activated from a three-week IL stint (due to shoulder soreness) to pitch today, but the biceps issue forced Garcia from the game after only 2 2/3 innings. Hinch said Garcia will be shut down for the time being, creating yet another vacancy in Detroit’s injury-riddled rotation. Five other starters are already on the IL with temporary or season-ending injuries, plus Eduardo Rodriguez is still on the restricted list. Today’s abbreviated outing pushed Garcia’s ERA to 4.59 over 51 innings for the Tigers this season.
Bobby Witt Jr. is day-to-day with right hamstring tightness, as the Royals made what the club described as a “precautionary” removal of the star rookie after the first inning of today’s game. Tests didn’t reveal any significant damage, Witt told the Kansas City Star’s Lynn Worthy and other reporters, but it would seem likely that the Royals will give Witt a game or two off to heal up. Heralded as one of baseball’s top prospects, Witt has hit .258/.301/.459 over his first 379 PA in the big leagues.

Royals Select Bobby Witt Jr., Designate Daniel Tillo For Assignment

By Steve Adams | April 7, 2022 at 10:54am CDT

The Royals have made it official. Top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. has been selected to the 40-man roster, while lefty Daniel Tillo has been designated for assignment in a corresponding roster move. Kansas City also placed righty Joel Payamps on the family medical emergency list.

Witt, the No. 2 pick in the 2019 draft, is regarded as one of the top three overall prospects in the Majors, even topping the lists at MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus. He forced his way onto the big league roster not only with last year’s combined .290/.361/.576 batting line between Double-A and Triple-A, but also with a massive spring showing. In a dozen Cactus League games and 34 plate appearances, Witt batted .406/.441/.781 with three home runs, three doubles and a pair of steals (in two attempts).

Even before the new collective bargaining agreement’s “prospect promotion incentives” went into place, the Royals have been unafraid to call up their best prospects as soon as they’re deemed ready. The Royals organization hasn’t made a habit of gaming service time in the past, evidenced both by president of baseball operations Dayton Moore’s public stance on the matter and the Opening Day appointments of several prospects (most recently, right-hander Brady Singer in 2020).

Witt, 21, has been primarily a shortstop in his brief minor league tenure but is expected to shift to the hot corner in the big leagues. The Royals are deep in infield talent, and Nicky Lopez in particular played shortstop at a Gold Glove-caliber level this past season. Witt could still see his share of reps at shortstop, but Adalberto Mondesi is also in the picture there.

Tillo, 25, split the 2021 season between Double-A and Triple-A, where he pitched to a combined 4.03 ERA with a 27-to-20 K/BB ratio in 29 innings of work. A third-round pick by the Royals back in 2017, Tillo has a career 4.25 ERA in 330 2/3 innings at the minor league level, most of which have come as a starter. The Royals will have a week to trade Tillo, place him on outright waivers or release him.

Bobby Witt Jr. Makes Royals’ Opening Day Roster

By Mark Polishuk | April 2, 2022 at 6:37pm CDT

The Royals will be placing Bobby Witt Jr. on their Opening Day roster, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The superstar prospect and second overall pick of the 2019 draft is set to officially begin his big league career when the Royals host the Guardians on Thursday.

There was no doubt that Witt would be making his big league debut at some point this season, as his .285/.352/.581 slash line over 285 Triple-A plate appearances in 2021 indicated that he was very ready for the next step. Royals president of baseball operations Dayton Moore said last month that Witt would get the “opportunity” to earn his way onto the Opening Day roster, and Witt has only cemented his case after crushing Spring Training pitching.

The new Collective Bargaining Agreement may have also removed an obstacle to Witt’s chances of breaking camp with the Royals. Under the old CBA, the team would have been tempted to leave Witt in the minors long enough to ensure that he wouldn’t gain a full year of service time in 2022, thus giving the Royals an extra year of control over Witt’s services through the 2028 season.

However, the “Prospect Promotion Incentive” in the new labor deal creates the possibility that Kansas City could earn a bonus pick in the 2023 amateur draft if Witt is on the roster for a full year of service time, and if he finishes in the top tier of awards consideration (a top-two finish in AL Rookie Of The Year balloting, a top-five MVP finish, or placement on the first or second-team All-MLB lineup).

Naturally, Witt’s status as one of the game’s top prospects qualifies him as one of the minor leaguers eligible for this PPI plan. Baseball Prospectus and MLB Pipeline each listed Witt atop their most recent rankings of the game’s best minor leaguers, while Fangraphs and Keith Law both ranked Witt second, and Baseball America third. This kind of praise has followed Witt for years, as he is regarded as a five-tool talent by most evaluators.

Originally drafted as a shortstop, Witt is set to begin his career as a third baseman, owing to the presence of Adalberto Mondesi and Nicky Lopez in the middle infield. There is some fluidity in that alignment, as Mondesi is an injury risk, and Whit Merrifield would likely move back to second base in the event that Lopez has to step in at shortstop. Keeping Witt at third base might be the smoothest choice for his development, however, as Witt could stay at the hot corner in more or less uninterrupted fashion, rather than juggling between different positions on a regular basis. If Witt was moved to shortstop or even second base, K.C. could use Hunter Dozier back at third base.

Moore: Witt Jr. Will Have Chance To Make Opening Day Roster

By Steve Adams | March 3, 2022 at 11:44am CDT

We don’t know when Opening Day will be for Major League clubs, but Royals president of baseball operations Dayton Moore told reporters this week that when it does, top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. will have the opportunity to break camp with the team (link via Pete Grahoff of the Kansas City Star).

“He’s very talented and we’re going to give him that opportunity,” Moore said of his organization’s top prospect. Because Witt has not yet been required to be added to the 40-man roster, Moore is able to freely discuss him and Witt is able to interact with club personnel and make use of club facilities.

By now, most fans are quite familiar with Witt Jr. — the son of 16-year MLB veteran pitcher Bobby Witt. Selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 draft, the now-21-year-old Witt Jr. is regarded as one of the game’s top three overall prospects. He’s played primarily shortstop in the minors and figures to, before long, be given the chance to settle in as the Royals’ long-term option either at short or at the hot corner.

The 2021 season was Witt’s first full year of professional games, thanks to the canceled minor league season in 2020, but you’d hardly know it based on the numbers. Splitting the season between Double-A (61 games, 279 plate appearances) and Triple-A (62 games, 285 plate appearances), Witt batted a combined .290/.361/.576 with 33 home runs, 35 doubles, four triples and 29 stolen bases (in 40 attempts). That production came not only in spite of extremely limited pro experience but also in spite of the fact that Witt was three years younger than his average opponent in Double-A and five years younger than the average Triple-A player.

Even in 2021, there was some talk that Witt could be considered for an Opening Day roster spot, although that always felt like an extreme long shot, given that he’d yet to play above Rookie ball. Now, with a dominant season in the upper minors under his belt, Witt would seem to have a legitimate chance at making the roster, so long as he performs well in whatever iteration of Spring Training is put together.

Just where Witt will line up on the diamond remains to be seen, as the Kansas City infield is rather crowded. Nicky Lopez solidified himself as an elite defender at shortstop this past season, and while he’s no lock to repeat his .300/.365/.378 batting line, the glove should continue to play no matter what. Two-time All-Star and 2021 stolen base champion Whit Merrifield can handle either second base or any of the three outfield spots. The ultra-talented but oft-injured Adalberto Mondesi remains in the mix for playing time, be it at shortstop, third base or in right field. Corner infielder/outfielder Hunter Dozier is entering the second season of a four-year, $28MM contract and will be looking to rebound from a dismal 2021 effort.

If the Royals prefer to leave Lopez, a Gold Glove finalist at shortstop, at the position where he broke out this past season, the natural move might be to slide Witt over to third base. The organization prepared for this to some extent last year, giving Witt 17 starts (and 18 total appearances) at the hot corner throughout the season.

The frequency (or lack thereof) of prospects of Witt’s caliber making their respective teams’ Opening Day rosters has been a key talking point in ongoing labor negotiations. The Royals, however, generally haven’t shied away from promoting top prospects out of the gate, rather than keeping them in the minors for a few weeks early in the season to secure a seventh year of club control. As recently as the 2020 season, the Royals gave Brady Singer a full year of service time, when keeping him at their alternate site for even a week would’ve delayed his path to free agency.

None of that is presented to spur debate on the merits of service-time practices that have become increasingly commonplace throughout the league. However, it’s notable context that Kansas City has generally taken up the stance that when the front office feels a player is ready, he’ll be added to the big league roster. Whether that means a full year of service in 2022 remains to be seen, as MLB and the Players Association will need to haggle over just how the canceled games will impact service time and pay.

Setting that aside, though, Moore’s confirmation of what was already widely assumed now gives Royals fans an additional reason to be excited for big league camp … whenever that may be. If Witt does indeed crack the Royals’ Opening Day roster and accrue a full year of service time in 2022, he’d be controllable via arbitration through the 2027 season before reaching free agency in advance of his age-28 season.

Who’s Blocking Bobby Witt Jr.?

By Darragh McDonald | December 29, 2021 at 9:20am CDT

After a years-long rebuilding process, the Royals opened a competitive window for the middle portions of the previous decade. From 2013 to 2017, the club had five straight seasons of at least 80 wins, including back-to-back trips to the World Series in 2014 and 2015, emerging victorious in the latter season. In 2018, that competitive window slammed shut as the team lost 104 games, and then 103 games the following year.

Of course, one benefit of such miserable losing seasons is higher draft picks. In the 2019 MLB draft, the Orioles held the first selection on the heels of their 47-win season, opting for Adley Rutschman with that pick. The second pick went to the Royals, who chose Bobby Witt Jr., a shortstop from Colleyville Heritage High School in Colleyville, Texas who was still a couple of weeks away from his 19th birthday.

The Royals quickly agreed to terms with Witt and put him to work right away, as he got into 37 rookie ball games that year. After that short assignment, Witt was ranked the 24th-best prospect in the league by Baseball America. 2020 was a lost season, in a sense, due to the pandemic wiping out the minor league seasons. However, Witt was evidently so impressive at the team’s alternate training site and in next year’s spring training that he was under consideration to be called up to the big leagues to start the 2021 season. It would have been an incredibly ambitious move to call up a 20-year-old with no experience above rookie ball, but the club ultimately decided against it, assigning Witt to Double-A to get more in-game experience after the lost 2020 campaign.

While spending 2021 in the minors, Witt could scarcely have had a better year. In 61 Double-A games, he hit .295/.369/.570, wRC+ of 145. A promotion to Triple-A didn’t slow him down, as he slashed .285/.352/.581 for a wRC+ of 142 in 62 games. Baseball America now ranks him the third-best prospect in the sport, behind only Rutschman and Julio Rodriguez. While it’s unclear how serious the Royals were about promoting Witt a year ago, there’s no question he’s pounding on the door now.

Witt is primarily a shortstop, having played most of his games there so far, but the Royals also tried him out at third a bit. In 2021, he played in 102 games at shortstop and 18 at the hot corner. That extra bit of flexibility could help him crack the roster, as the big league team has far more question marks than answers at this point.

Adalberto Mondesi was supposed to be the team’s shortstop of the future after a tremendous breakout campaign in 2018. In that year, Mondesi hit .276/.306/.498, with 14 home runs and 32 stolen bases in just 75 games. However, that power seemed to slip away from him over the next two campaigns, as he hit 16 homers over 161 games between 2019 and 2020, producing a combined line of .260/.292/.421. He still had the speed, though, notching 67 stolen bases in that time. Then 2021 saw Mondesi sidelined by a series of injuries, limiting him to just 10 games over the first five months of the season. In an interview in August, Royals general manager Dayton Moore candidly admitted that the club no longer viewed Mondesi as an everyday player that they would expect to play 100-plus games a year. Mondesi returned to the club in September, having been moved to third base, seeing action in 25 more games before the season ended.

The reason Mondesi was moved to third was because, in his absence, Nicky Lopez had a nice season and took over the shortstop position. Lopez played 151 games, providing excellent defense and speed, racking up 22 stolen bases on the year. Although his bat was adequate enough to put up a wRC+ of 106, it was largely powerless and BABIP-driven, as evidenced by two homers on the season and his overall line of .300/.365/.378. Despite his excellent defense at short, he could move to second if needed, as he has 133 games of MLB experience there over the past three seasons.

Whit Merrifield spent most of 2021 at second base, but can also play the outfield. If Lopez, Witt and Mondesi are all healthy and lined up in the infield, Merrifield might become the regular right fielder, with Michael A. Taylor in center and Andrew Benintendi in left, and Kyle Isbel and Edward Olivares on hand for further depth.

When Mondesi returned in September and took over at third, he bumped off Hunter Dozier, who was in the midst of an incredibly inconsistent season. Dozier seemed to break out in 2019, hitting 26 home runs and slashing .279/.348/.522, wRC+ of 123. In 2020, his production dropped a bit but was still above average, coming in at .228/.344/.392, wRC+ of 104. In 2021, the first half of the season was dismal, as he was sitting on a line of .147/.214/.357 at the end of June. In July, he bounced back with a month of hitting .304/.389/.443. August saw him turn right around in the other direction and hit .216/.262/.330, but then he finished strong over September and October, with marks of .272/.346/.576 over the final month-plus. After losing the hot corner to Mondesi, he bounced between first base, designated hitter and the corner outfield spots.

Carlos Santana, signed to a two-year deal a year ago, had the worst year of his career in 2021, hitting .214/.319/.342. Some of that production could perhaps be attributed to a quad strain that was hampering him down the stretch, but his numbers before the injury weren’t great either. The team might consider moving the final year of his contract, which still guarantees him $10.5MM, but it won’t be easy after that tepid campaign, especially since he’ll turn 36 in April.

The first base situation could also be further crowded by the arrival of Nick Pratto. Much like Witt, he spent 2021 almost evenly between Double-A and Triple-A. He hit 36 home runs on the year, slashing .265/.385/.602, for a wRC+ of 156. He’s only ever played first base in the minors, except for three Triple-A games in right field this year.

Given all of this positional flexibility, the Royals can surely make it work one way or another. If they prefer Witt at third, he can play beside Lopez and Merrifield, with Mondesi becoming a super-utility option that can have his workload managed. If they want Witt at short, they could slide Lopez to the keystone and Merrifield to the outfield. The first base/DH mix might be a little crowded, but only temporarily, as Santana and Benintendi are free agents after 2022. As the season goes on, there will inevitably be injuries that make the game of musical chairs less crowded. But with the imminent arrival of both Witt and Pratto, along with Asa Lacy and many other young pitchers, Royals fans have reasons to be optimistic about the club topping the 74 wins they managed in 2021.

Adalberto Mondesi Moving To Third Base

By Steve Adams | September 2, 2021 at 8:57am CDT

The Royals reinstated Adalberto Mondesi from the injured list when rosters expanded to 28 yesterday, but he won’t be moving back to his customary spot at shortstop, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Instead he’ll split the majority of his time between third base and designated hitter for at least the remainder of the 2021 season.

It’s a decision brought about largely by a strong showing from fellow infielder Nicky Lopez, who has put together a nice season while Mondesi has been limited to just 10 games due to a pair of oblique strains (one on each side of his body) and a hamstring strain. In Mondesi’s absence, Lopez has turned in a .292/.363/.363 batting line and gone 18-for-18 in stolen bases.

The 26-year-old Lopez’s offense is heavily BABIP-dependent thanks to his lack of power, but even if his current .342 mark began to regress, his glovework at shortstop is enough to keep him in the lineup. Lopez has positive marks at shortstop across the board. He’s made just six errors in 979 innings at short and has plus rankings in Defensive Runs Saved (3), Ultimate Zone Rating (5.2) and Statcast’s Outs Above Average (11). That plus-11 mark in OAA is the fourth-highest of any Major League player at any position in 2021.

For the time being, the move to third base likely displaces Hunter Dozier, who’s been struggling to find his form at the plate all season. Dozier looked to perhaps be righting the ship with a strong July performance, but his bat wilted in the month since that hot streak. He’s hitting .203/.272/.351 on the whole as he plays out the first season of a four-year, $25MM contract extension he inked with Kansas City following what looked to be a breakout 2019 showing (.279/.348/.522, 26 home runs, 123 wRC+). Dozier can see some time at first base, at designated hitter and in the outfield corners with Mondesi at third base, and he can of course continue taking reps at the hot corner on days when it’s Monedsi who is tabbed as the designated hitter.

Looking further down the road, an eventual position change for Mondesi has never seemed far-fetched — not with top prospect Bobby Witt Jt. rapidly rising through the system. Witt, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 draft, has split his 2021 season between Double-A and Triple-A, batting a combined .299/.364/.595 with 28 home runs, 28 doubles, four triples and 22 stolen bases. If shortstop is his eventual home on the diamond, it stands to reason that one of Mondesi or Lopez (perhaps even both) would be pushed into a more fluid role, seeing time at multiple positions. The Royals have Whit Merrifield installed at second base this season, but Merrifield can certainly handle the outfield and, speculatively speaking, could be ticketed for more time there in 2022 as the infield picture begins to shift.

Royals general manager Dayton Moore was rather candid when discussing Mondesi’s durability issues earlier this summer, stating publicly that the Royals aren’t able to count on the talented but oft-injured 26-year-old as their everyday option at shortstop. “He may not be a guy that plays more than 100 games a year, best-case scenario,” Moore said at the time. The GM emphasized that the Royals “love Mondi to death” and have no plans to move on from him but simply “can’t, obviously, count on him as an everyday player.”

The Royals control Mondesi for two seasons beyond the current campaign — the same amount of time for which they control the aforementioned Merrifield. Mondesi is making $2.525MM in 2021, and his limited number of games played will keep any raise paid out through arbitration rather minimal. How he handles the move to third base — a position he has not played at all in his professional career — could in some ways influence the Royals’ approach to the 2021-22 offseason. Moore’s prior comments suggest Kansas City won’t count on Mondesi as the regular third baseman even if he wows defensively, but if he looks relatively comfortable there it’s certainly possible that could impact their infield pursuits this winter.

Royals’ Moore On 2022 Outlook, Top Prospects, Mondesi

By Steve Adams | August 4, 2021 at 8:45pm CDT

The 2021 season hasn’t gone as the Royals hoped, but general manager Dayton Moore made clear in a recent appearance on 610 AM’s Fescoe in the Morning Show that he still considers his club to be in a win-now mindset and will aim to put together a contending roster for the 2022 season (full audio link to the 18-minute interview).

Moore acknowledged being “extremely disappointed” with the team’s record this season, particularly given that the front office “all felt [the roster] would compete.” That said, Moore didn’t sound like an executive who was gearing up to make sweeping changes in the offseason. While the Royals will certainly look to add in various places — Moore listed the bullpen, in particular — the organization also expects a great deal of improvement from within.

“When I look at our team, there’s not a ton that you’re going to need to do, at least on paper,” said Moore. “…We expect some of our young starters to continue to evolve and get better. We’re going to hopefully be able to transition a position player or two into this lineup next year. We’re going to get a little bit younger, we’re going to have a little more speed on this team. … We’re going to be disciplined with what we do, but we’re going to rely on young players that are going to come up and be better.”

The Royals have an enviable crop of young starting pitching, as Moore referenced. Each of Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, Jackson Kowar and Kris Bubic has been ranked as a top-100 prospect at some point in recent years, and all four have gotten their feet wet in the big leagues already. Kansas City also has last summer’s No. 4 overall draft pick, lefty Asa Lacy, working his way through the system. Command has been an issue for Lacy thus far in Class-A Advanced, but he’s also fanned a third of his opponents through 52 frames. Twenty-one-year-old Angel Zerpa breezed through Class-A Advanced, meanwhile, before running into some early struggles in his first Double-A action.

Of course, the mention of “transitioning a position player or two” into the lineup seems like a clear reference to uber-prospect Bobby Witt Jr., the No. 2 overall pick from the 2019 draft who has emerged as one of baseball’s brightest prospects. But Moore is also surely referencing another former first-round pick, first baseman Nick Pratto.

Both Witt and Pratto have laid waste to Double-A and Triple-A pitching alike in 2021. Witt, 21, posted a .295/.369/.570 slash with 16 homers and 14 steals in 61 Double-A games before jumping to Triple-A and hitting .283/.328/.550 through his first 13 games. Pratto delivered similar dominance at the plate in Double-A (.271/.404/.570 in 61 games) before jumping to Triple-A at the same time. Like Witt, he hasn’t missed a beat in Omaha, raking at a .271/.379/.646 clip so far.

It’s always possible that the Royals will call on one or both promising youngsters by season’s end, although Moore spoke of exercising patience with each prospect after the scratched 2020 season and an abbreviated run through the minors so far in ’21. Asked specifically about the duo, Moore simply suggested that both need to “keep doing what they’re doing” and accrue more experience in the top minor league level of the system. That said, Moore also suggested that once players are promoted to Triple-A, “they really have an opportunity to force your hand.”

Perhaps most interestingly g of all from Moore, however, was his surprisingly candid assessment of oft-injured shortstop Adalberto Mondesi. While Moore emphasized that the club feels Mondesi is still a part of its future, he also acknowledged that Mondesi may not be the everyday cornerstone the team once envisioned.

“No, you can’t,” Moore candidly replied when asked if the team could count on Mondesi as an everyday player. “We love Mondy to death. … I think when we put this team together, we look at it like, ’Holy cow, if Mondy’s healthy, and he’s a part of the team, it’s going to be really exciting and really impactful in a lot of different ways: defensively, offensively, speed-wise.’ There’s a lot he can do.

“But I think we’re learning that we’re going to have to manage his workload. He may not be a guy that plays more than 100 games a year, best-case scenario. Hopefully he exceeds that expectation, but as somebody who’s responsible for putting together a 26-man roster, we’ve got to look at ways to supplement and perhaps be more balanced, if he’s not a part of it. If he is, that’s great. We’re certainly not going to release him. We’re going to continue to stay with him, obviously. But we’ve got to make sure we put that roster together in ways that protect us. … We can’t, obviously, count on him as an everyday player.”

It’s rare to see a GM speak with such candor about someone who’s long been viewed as a key player. Of course, those comments aren’t any sort of indication that the team plans to move on from Mondesi, nor should we necessarily expect Kansas City to spend significantly on a middle-infield upgrade over the winter. The Royals also have a shortstop-capable infielder in Nicky Lopez, and the aforementioned Witt Jr. has played all of his professional games so far at shortstop, save for eight appearances at the hot corner in 2021. Perhaps the Royals will deem it worthwhile to add a solid utilityman who can deepen the bench and help cover some games at the shortstop position as needed. Based on Moore’s comments, that very role could eventually be one in which Mondesi finds himself — an oft-used but also oft-rested player who can fill in at multiple spots around the diamond.

Mondesi aside, the broader takeaway from Moore’s comments are that while the 2021 season hasn’t gone as hoped, the club remains committed to putting a winner on the field as soon as 2022. That likely points to another offseason of some modest additions in free agency and via trade, as the Royals continue to wait on the emergence of their next core group.

Royals Reassign Bobby Witt Jr. To Minors

By Anthony Franco | March 21, 2021 at 3:07pm CDT

The Royals are reassigning top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. to the minor leagues, report Ken Rosenthal and Alec Lewis of the Athletic (Twitter link). He is likely to start the season at Double-A, per Jeff Passan of ESPN (via Twitter).

That’s hardly a surprise, given that Witt has yet to play a single game above rookie ball since being drafted out of high school in 2019. Some speculation had arisen that Witt could be a major league option right out of the gate after the 20-year-old impressed during spring training. General manager Dayton Moore even left that door open earlier this week, but a minor-league assignment always seemed the most likely outcome.

With Adalberto Mondesi entrenched at shortstop, any chance Witt had at making the team likely involved moving him (or Mondesi) to second base. Instead, it seems Kansas City will turn to Nicky Lopez and/or non-roster invitee Hanser Alberto at the keystone.

Witt, the second overall pick in that 2019 draft, is universally regarded by public prospect evaluators as a top thirty farmhand in the sport. He draws plenty of praise for his power and defensive ability. If Witt performs well in the minors, he might more realistically emerge as a big league option later in the year. By demoting Witt, the Royals also ensure he won’t accrue a full year of MLB service time in 2021, keeping him under team control through at least 2027. In this case, though, there’s a rather justifiable on-field argument for keeping Witt off the MLB roster on Opening Day.

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