The Royals dispatched a scout or club official to every game shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. played as a high school senior, and that was no small number.
Colleyville Heritage High, located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, played 42 games in 2019, winning 39 of them, as Witt led the Panthers to the Texas class 5A state title.
The Royals wanted to watch over the player they believed was the most talented in a top-heavy draft class that also included Adley Rutschman and 2024 first-time all-stars Gunnar Henderson, Riley Greene and CJ Abrams.
Kansas City saw all five of Witt’s tools, and the sixth for those who believe heavily in makeup.
Then-Royals GM Dayton Moore did, and the only thing that could stop him from selecting Witt with the No. 2 overall pick would be if Baltimore selected him at 1-1.
The Orioles chose Rutschman, the Oregon State star catcher. The Royals phoned Witt immediately to tell him he was their pick.
“We knew we wanted Bobby Witt Jr. a year before the draft,” said Moore, now the Rangers’ senior adviser of baseball operations. “We loved Adley Rutschman as well, and we didn’t know what the Orioles were going to do.
“But Bobby Witt Jr., I can honestly tell you, was No. 1 on our list, and that’s who we were really hoping to be able to select.”
Five years later, Witt might have the best overall skill set in MLB.
Witt controls the barrel well enough to win a batting title, possesses 30-homer power, threw 95 mph as a high school closer, makes plays at shortstop that his teammates can’t believe and is in the argument for fastest player in the game.
Among active players, only Shohei Ohtani can match Witt in terms of total plus tools. But only Ohtani’s hit, power and speed were on display this year, his pitching on hold while he recovers from offseason elbow surgery.
Mookie Betts also has a case, too. He won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger in the same season five times, all as a right fielder. Witt has that kind of potential, the separator being his ability to captain the infield as a shortstop.
“It’s a rare combination of elite athleticism and tools, elite tools with elite skill. It’s all there,” Moore said of Witt. “It’s always been advanced. Plus he’s got elite makeup. It’s just a great, great package and speaks to who he is as a person and how he was raised.
“He is a legit five-tool player with baseball skill and a baseball mind.”
Moore’s assessment is hardly unique. Baseball’s best gushed over Witt in July during All-Star Game festivities in Arlington, Texas, where he had a home-field advantage of sorts. He purchased tickets for 30 family members and estimated that more than 100 friends would be in attendance.
The sold-out crowds of nearly 40,000 for the Home Run Derby and Midsummer Classic recognized the talent in addition to the local ties, giving the 24-year-old some of the loudest ovations of any player—hometown Rangers players included.
Witt humbly sidestepped the notion that he rates among the best of the best despite an abundance of evidence, ranging from traditional statistics to MLB Statcast figures to eyewitness testimony. He said he doesn’t even think he has a best skill.
“I feel like I can still get better in all aspects of the game,” he said. “I’ve just got to keep working and keep getting better.”
As Moore puts it, Witt can beat a team in more ways than any player in the game or in recent memory.
More than young Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who continues to develop. More than the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson, the American League all-star shortstop starter. More than Mike Trout, whose arm strength wasn’t elite. And more than Ichiro Suzuki, who reached double figures in home runs just three times.
A case can be made that Witt grades out at 70 or higher in hitting, power, speed, fielding and arm strength on the 20-80 scouting scale.
“He just puts pressure on you in so many ways,” Moore said. “There are very few players in the game who can beat you in multiple ways.
“Junior can beat you with the glove. He can beat you with the arm, he can beat you with the legs, he can scratch out an infield hit, stay on a breaking ball the other way for a soft single, and he can turn around the fastball and hit it out of the ballpark and into the fountains (at Kauffman Stadium).”
Witt has big league bloodlines. His father is Bobby Witt Sr., who was drafted by the Rangers with the third overall pick in 1986 and pitched for 16 MLB seasons. He was known as a terrific competitor who never wanted to give up the ball. Witt Jr. said his mother, a high school swimmer, also contributed some athletic genes.
Witt conceded that players, coaches and fans are most surprised by how fast he runs. Entering the all-star break, he was tied for the MLB lead for fastest sprint speed of 30.4 feet per second and was ninth with an average home-to-first run time of 4.11 seconds.
“You can’t really appreciate it until you see it,” Henderson said.
Last season, Witt tied De La Cruz for the fastest sprint speed—30.5 feet per second—and finished tied for the AL lead with 25 infield hits.
Witt swiped 49 bases in 2023 to become a 30-homer, 40-steal player. He was the first Royals player in history to record a 30-30 season and the seventh player in MLB history to go 30-30 in his age-23 season or younger.
Witt became the first player in MLB history with at least 50 homers and 70 steals in his first two seasons.
“He does everything well,” Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams said. “He’s fast, super fast. He’s got super power. Seeing that on the field, it’s just fun to watch.”
Abrams was selected four picks after Witt in 2019 by the Padres, and the Orioles later nabbed Henderson in the second round at No. 42 overall. The phenoms watched each other play at showcase events over multiple summers before they launched their professional careers.
Abrams and Witt were teammates on USA Baseball’s 18U National Team in 2018—along with, among others, Anthony Volpe, Corbin Carroll, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Dylan Crews, Riley Greene and Jack Leiter—which captured the COPABE Pan-American championship. Witt was the tournament MVP after batting .576 and hitting for the cycle in the title game against Panama.
Two years after being drafted, Witt was the BA Minor League Player of the Year.
“It seems like all of his stuff in high school was very well-rounded, and it seems like throughout the years it gets even more well-rounded,” Henderson said. “Being able to watch him do that, just how he progresses each and every year, it’s been awesome to watch and I really enjoy competing with him.”
The 30-homer power might also surprise some. At 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, Witt isn’t a hulking figure like Adolis Garcia or Kyle Schwarber, but he’s put together. He tries to generate power by getting his lower half involved in his swing.
Bat speed helps, too, and Witt’s average bat speed rates above league average and is the fastest swing on a wild card contender which also includes all-star catcher Salvador Perez, who should reach 300 career homers next season.
“I’m not the biggest guy out there, so I’m just trying to create more force from the legs up,” Witt said. “It’s always been part of my game. I try to have all of the five tools, and one of them is power. So I just try to work to be able to do that.”
Phillies shortstop Trea Turner played for Team USA with Witt last year in the World Baseball Classic. Turner is one of the all-stars who recognized Witt’s attitude and work ethic as standing out as much or more than any of his tools.
Witt’s hit tool stood out most to Turner, especially in today’s age of power pitching. Witt ranked third in the AL last season with 177 hits while batting .286. He batted .323 in the first half of this season, behind only the Guardians’ Steven Kwan at .352. Witt opened the second half by going 9-for-11 in the first series after the All-Star Game to jump to .337.
“It’s hard to hit for a high average, especially in today’s game with velocity and great defense,” Turner said. “And he’s (24) years old. I think that’s most impressive.”
Witt has made the most improvement since debuting in 2022 with his defense. The Statcast metric outs above average assessed him a –9 as a rookie. That figure improved to 14 in 2023 and this year was on pace to be roughly double that total.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, who skippered the AL all-star team, called Witt’s play at shortstop “terrific” and said he could probably play any position in the field.
Witt’s best play so far this season might have been his running, over-the-shoulder catch on an Andy Pages flare at Dodger Stadium. Witt had the presence of mind to get the ball back to the infield, and the Royals doubled off Teoscar Hernandez at first base.
(Hernandez exacted a modicum of revenge by edging Witt to win the Home Run Derby—and the $1 million prize.)
Witt was playing on his 24th birthday, and the double play helped prevent lefthander Cole Ragans from getting into a jam against a prolific Dodgers lineup. Witt has topped out at 94.1 mph on throws this season, which rates as above-average.
“That guy’s a special player,” Ragans said. “He’s a superstar, but he’s one of the best human beings you’ll meet.”
Earlier this year, Royals GM J.J. Picollo signed Witt to an 11-year, $288.7 million extension. Moore, Picollo’s predecessor, said the deal should put the Royals in a position to contend for the postseason for years to come.
While there are no guarantees, Witt is the kind of player to build a franchise around. He possesses all five tools and the elite baseball IQ and makeup that ties the talent together.
“He’s the best player who I’ve ever scouted, for sure,” Moore said. “I can’t think of a player in our game who can beat you in as many ways as Bobby Witt Jr. can.”
