Bobby Witt, Jr.
Darin
Posts: 7,209 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Sports Talk
My pick for AL rookie of the year.
He better be the Royals starting third baseman this year or I may not be a fan of the Royals anymore.
Countdouglas tell me its a done deal and that he's going to start at third this year! Please I can't stand the suspense. 
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There are 5 bobblehead giveaways on this years promotional schedule. Salvy (of course), Benintedi and Michael A. for their gold gloves, and Lopez, I guess for his slick fielding, low strikeout rate, and obscene BABIP. The 5th bobblehead giveaway is currently noted as "Mystery Player Bobblehead". Now, if you're familiar with production lead times on these and the potential supply chain issues from China, decisions have to be made well in advance. There is no "mystery" here. They know who the player is. That player is not yet on the 25 (26? 28?) man roster, nor yet a member of the MLBPA, so they just can't yet reveal who that player is. It doesn't take much extrapolation to determine that they have intended for Witt to be on the team from the get-go.
So Buddy Biancalana
Freddie Patek.
So in a twisted bit of irony I just read an article citing that Witt Jr's swing is identical to that of Mike Trout.
Baseball’s top rookie has a home run swing that looks identical to Mike Trout’s.
On Tuesday in Arizona, Bobby Witt Jr. hit a home run in the Kansas City Royals spring training game. This is normal, in some ways — he crushed 33 across two levels in the minors last season. It’s also unfathomably exciting in that he’s the best prospect in baseball, likely to reach the majors early in 2022.
This home run didn’t inspire the normal top prospect hype, though. It inspired double takes.
That, many fans thought, is Mike Trout’s swing. Upright stance, minimal movement except for a powerful twist of the torso, a subtle lurch with the back foot that springs into a step toward first base. And the follow-through, that’s the signature. Like Trout, Witt kept two hands locked on the bat. It waves up only to his shoulder and then recoils back to his waist almost instantly.
Side-by-side comparisons of Witt’s swing and Trout’s quickly started appearing on Twitter.
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Great detective work Count!
Now please tell me Carlos Santana and his OPS+ of 79 isn't going to be the starting first basemen
again and you will make my day!
Mark, interesting! I saw that blast he hit Tuesday, it was impressive.
Didn't know his swing was similar to Trouts', hopefully he won't be as injury prone.
So far so good. One game played, one game winning RBI for Bobby Witt, jr.
I wonder what the fat, non productive guy was doing playing first base?
So we don't have any young guy that can replace a .214 hitting, OPS+ 79 non productive first basemen?
This is ridiculous! Trot out a 68 year old George Brett and he would have a better year than Carlos Santana.
With identical swings, the real irony is that if only Trout would actually swing, he, too, could someday hope to be as successful in the clutch as Bobby Witt, Jr.
Two identical swings. One player is a poser that hasn't done anything of consequence in his career. The other player has a dad named Bobby Witt.
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I agree, great work!
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Game winning hit.
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Nice to see that after the long layoff and subsequent rehab, Trout is already back in midseason form. The Mike Trout specialty, the at bat where he never even takes the stick off of his shoulder. Every single pitcher of major league talent knows Trout can't catch up to a ball up in the zone. Easy out.
The 2 players may "have the same swing", but only one is able to use it.
Witt is clutch AF in the field, too.
Time to resurrect my Bobby baseball thread. Great first month of the season! If he keeps up the consistency he’s a budding superstar.
I just watched a you tube video of Bobby opening baseball packs with a guy from Topps. He said he was buying a rookie card of himself every time he hit a HR. This was before this season started. He also said his goal is to buy a 1/1 card of himself… a superfractor or something. He also has a nice Mahomes rookie card collection and loves talking cards with Mike trout(sorry countdouglas).
From what I’ve seen and heard about Bobby he’s just a great young kid. He loves playing baseball with Salvy and it seems Salvy’s work ethic is a very good influence on Bobby.
Last year Bobby got off to a slow start the first 2 months of the season. This year Corbin Carroll, rookie of the year 2023 off to a slow start.
I might have a contest with Bobby Witt jr. on who can collect the most Bobby Witt jr. cards. The last time I hoarded rookie cards of a kid from Texas he wore #15 for the Chiefs.
that is really cool that Bobby collects cards and is buying a rookie for every home run!! I think he should also buy a George Brett rookie every time he hits a screaming line drive double to the power alley!!!
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
He said Trouty collects also and has a Jalen hurts collection. They got to know each other playing on the wbc team. I would post the you tube video but don’t know how. It was pretty cool listening to them talk cards.
I saw an interview on MLB Quick Pitch (I think) where he discussed his cards and collecting. Is that the one you're referring to? Trout was on an episode of Carded also.
It’s this video. My niece taught me how to do screen grabs, that’s the best I can do. 😩
Bobby has been very consistent the first two months. I like how the walks are going up and the strikeouts down.
He is getting better as the season is progressing
Bobby has 11 hits in his last 19 at bats. Now leading the league in hits and doubles. The only bad thing about his game so far is he gets caught stealing too much.
As good as his first half has been Gunnar has been even better and was voted in as starting SS which is well deserved.
What has been so fun about watching so many of Witt’s at bats the past 3 years is that now he doesn’t swing at near as many pitches out of the strike zone as he used to. Although they all get fooled sometimes and swing at bad pitches.
Salvy never learned plate discipline like that and could have been a great hitting catcher if he would have.
He is having a great first half
looks like he is going to be a good one!
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Bobby is 9-11, .818 batting avg. in 3 games after the all star break. It was against the white Sox but still pretty amazing.
He is now hitting .404 at home this season and .270 on the road.
Two things he needs to work on, hitting away from KC and base stealing. Gets thrown out too much.
.744 away OPS is abysmal but overall having an amazing start to the year.
I do not have time for ignorant trolls.
ignore list: 1948_Swell_Robinson, Darin, bgr, bronco2078, dallasactuary
I blinked and then he is hitting .344. He is fantastic! He is in a legit MVP race.
Bobby stepped up his game a bit in July.
Bobby Witt Jr.
And the first game in August he hits a double and dinger and ops goes over 1.000 for the season
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boy, the royals got a good one with Witt!
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
He is definitely living the dream. I say good on ya, enjoy the ride.
When I was watching the all star game I was thinking the player I wish KC had was Duran from the Red Sox.
We have a good defensive center fielder but he doesn’t hit much. And neither do our two other outfielders.
Duran……. If this year is any indication looks like a super star in the making.
Duran and O'Neill are definitely the glue of the Red Sox right now. If he stays healthy, I agree, Duran is heading towards super star status.
What's missing with the Red Sox is the consistency (IMO), at this stage of the season you gotta find a way to string together a bunch of wins. Devers is a bit of up and down, Masa is all but a waste for what he's getting paid, pitching is sketchy. I don't think they'll go back-to back-to back last place finishes in the AL East, with Toronto and Rays playing so poorly, but they're getting kinda close to 4th place. It has to be demoralizing to sit in the dugout and look at the scoreboard in left field and see where you stand.
If the Red Sox ever got rid of Duran after the fiasco they created when they let Mookie depart the fans would go nuts !
Well he’s improved his road hitting quite a bit. Now hitting .293 on the road with .820 ops which is steady improvement.
Base running is fine, base stealing is now atrocious. Maybe Willie Wilson should step in and help coach him on base stealing next spring training.
This all started at the end of last season. KC or Witt himself was trying to get to 50 steals, and I’m guessing the last 4-5 attempts he either got picked off or thrown out, sometimes both. It’s gotten worse this year, he has to be leading the league in pickoffs, when that happens he usually is in the process of stealing, ball goes to first base then second and he’s out.
It’s happened a lot, I’m sure at this point he has zero confidence as a base stealer. Only part of his game that has been bad this year.
Surely Willie Wilson or Carlos Beltran, greatest and second greatest base stealers in Royals history could help him out.
Yeah, 25 SB vs 11 CS is a terrible ratio. Even the 49:15 he had last year isn't that good. If Wilson and Beltran aren't available, maybe John Wathan can help him out.
Tabe….. now it’s 25 SB vs 12 CS after yesterday’s game. 🫣
He should just stop trying to steal the rest of this year….. it’s a disaster.
He's still a hair in the positive on his stolen base value. Rule of thumb is it takes the positive of two Stolen Bases to equal out the negative value of one caught stealing. It is definitely a regression from his previous two years though.
I'm shocked he is still raising his average after that torrid post break streak that got him over .340. Hitting .349 now and he is the only thing in the way of a Judge triple crown.
Currently Witt has a 174 OPS+ which is the second highest ever(modern day) number for a shortstop. Seager had the highest last year at 175, but he only played 119 games for the year. With about 40 games to go, will be interesting to see how much Witt can sustain it.
Yount at 166 is the highest for a 'full' season in the modern era, having done that in 1982..
Interesting…….. didn’t know that about ops+ for a shortstop. Gunnar still has a chance at it also if he heats up… he hit his 30th dinger yesterday, he was stuck on 29 for a while.
Maybe he should stop stealing bases. Not everyone can be as good as Elly.
I do not have time for ignorant trolls.
ignore list: 1948_Swell_Robinson, Darin, bgr, bronco2078, dallasactuary
Two single season Royals records I would like to see Bobby break this year. Extra base hits and total bases.
He has a double his first at bat tonight so he’s even closer now.
Vladimir Guerrero went 0-4 yesterday which dropped his average from .327 to .324
Bobby is at .334 so it gives him a little breathing room. Hope he hangs on would love to see him win the batting title.
Meanwhile KC collapsing with 7 straight losses will be lucky to make playoffs.
Stud
hate to see Brett knocked down on lists.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I hope Bobby breaks a bunch of team records. Right now I’m just hoping he wins the AL batting title.
🏆
Vlad Guerrero has been putting a lot of pressure on him by going 10-18 and raising his avg. to .327 until yesterday he had an 0-4 to drop to .324
Currently
Bobby .334
Vlad .324
Judge .321
Bobby 2-4…. .335
Vlad 1-4…….. .324
Judge 1-3….. .323
It's so old school rooting for your guy to win the batting title
I freaking love it
Thanks perk. Good news and bad news for me this evening. The Royals got a much needed win but Bobby was hitless.
I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but the Detroit Tigers are coming on strong and look like they will make the playoffs. Right now they’ve basically traded places with the Twins. Anyway……
Bobby 0-4. …. .333
Vlad 2-4………. .325