{"id":66335,"date":"2024-02-05T14:13:18","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T19:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=66335"},"modified":"2024-02-05T14:13:18","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T19:13:18","slug":"royals-witt-jr-contract-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/02\/05\/royals-witt-jr-contract-extension\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas City Royals, Bobby Witt Jr., Agree to Club-Record Extension"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Kansas City Royals and shortstop <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wittbo02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bobby<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wittbo02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> W<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wittbo02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">itt<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wittbo02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Jr.<\/a> are in agreement on an 11-year, $288.8 million extension. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JeffPassan\/status\/1754567573964816594\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeff Passan of ESPN<\/a> explained that the extension can go up to 14 years through a three-year option. It would give it a 14-year, $377 million ceiling.<\/p>\n<p>Witt <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BwittJr\/status\/1754566690417901881\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said this <\/a>regarding\u00a0his new contract. &#8220;I am incredibly grateful to the Sherman family and the Royals front office for believing in me, and I promise to do everything in my power to help bring championship baseball back to Kansas City! Let\u2019s go!!&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The present, the future, and the largest contract in franchise history. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LpcUGPpzkj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/LpcUGPpzkj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kansas City Royals (@Royals) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Royals\/status\/1754565634799595798?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 5, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Royals Give All-Star a PayDay<\/h2>\n<p>The 23-year-old hit .276\/.319\/.495 with 30 home runs and 49 stolen bases that saw him win a Gold Glove courtesy of his caliber defense. Witt&#8217;s signing comes a week before the Royals report to spring training highlights a\u00a0<a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/12\/14\/royals-taylor-clarke-brewers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">productive offseason<\/a>. Kansas City went out and improved the\u00a0<a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/12\/12\/seth-lugo-kansas-city-royals\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">starting rotation<\/a>\u00a0with the additions of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lugose01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seth Lugo<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wachami01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Wacha<\/a>. Both pitchers should help stabilize a rotation that includes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/raganco01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cole Ragans<\/a>, who had a breakout in the second half of the season. The return of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pasquvi01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vinnie Pasquantino<\/a>, who missed most of the season following shoulder surgery, will provide Witt power in the lineup.<\/p>\n<h3>Six Players with Nine-Figure Deals<\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">A historic contract extension for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BwittJr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@BwittJr<\/a>! \u270d\ufe0f<\/p>\n<p>Congrats to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BwittJr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@BwittJr<\/a> on signing the<br \/>\nLARGEST contract in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Royals?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Royals<\/a> history! ??<\/p>\n<p>\u2714\ufe0f Third-largest deal of all-time in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@MLB<\/a> history<br \/>\n\u2714\ufe0f First contract with 10+ seasons in Royals history <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2bwbcCV48H\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/2bwbcCV48H<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Octagon (@Octagon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Octagon\/status\/1754566131610972251?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 5, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Witt joins six other players with two or fewer years of major league experience who had been given nine-figure deals. All of those players have been All-Stars with postseason appearances. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/acunaro01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr.<\/a> (eight years, $100 million), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/carroco02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Corbin Carroll<\/a> (eight years, $111 million), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/troutmi01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Trout<\/a> (six years, $144.5 million), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/francwa01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wander Franco<\/a> (11 years, $182 million), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=rodriju01,rodrig010jul,rodrig014jul,rodrig015jul&amp;search=Julio+Rodr\u00edguez&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Julio Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> ($ 12 years, $209 million), and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tatisfe02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fernando Tatis Jr.<\/a> (14 years, $340 million).<\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">One of the Best Prospects in Baseball<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The franchise&#8217;s new face is the son of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wittbo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bobby Witt<\/a>, a former Major League pitcher for 16 years. Witt Jr. was selected a spot higher than his dad as the No.2 pick in the 2019 MLB Draft. His $7.78 million signing was the second-highest Draft bonus since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/colege01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gerrit Cole<\/a>&#8216;s $8 million from the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2011. Witt hit 33 home runs and 29 stolen bases with a .290\/.361\/.575 slash line between Double-A and Triple-A.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;At the end of the day, he trusts his talent,&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/featured\/bobby-witt-jr-s-talent-mindset-guide-him-on-road-to-majors\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Royals director of hitting performance<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Alec Zumwalt said. &#8220;A lot of players, when they get themselves into trouble, they&#8217;re not trusting their talent. They&#8217;re trying to do more. What they have, they think is not good enough. That&#8217;s where, with Bobby, it&#8217;s different.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">2023 was no doubt Witt&#8217;s coming out part. He became the first player in franchise history with a 30-30 season. His 49 steals made him the fifth player in league history to have 30-plus home runs and 49 or more stolen bases in a season. He finished with a 4.4 bWAR, a 120 OPS+, 96 RBI, and a seventh-place finish in American League MVP voting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Kansas City Royals and shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. are in agreement on an 11-year, $288.8 million extension. Jeff Passan of ESPN explained that the extension can go up to 14 years through a three-year option. It would give it a 14-year, $377 million ceiling. Witt said this regarding\u00a0his new contract. &#8220;I am incredibly grateful [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3686,"featured_media":66336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,2,1071,35],"tags":[2584,2583,2670,1625,4308,726,248,231,1982,165,2934],"class_list":["post-66335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royals","category-featured","category-mlb","category-news","tag-bobby-witt","tag-bobby-witt-jr","tag-corbin-carroll","tag-fernando-tatis-jr","tag-julio-rodriguez","tag-michael-wacha","tag-mike-trout","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-ronald-acuna-jr","tag-seth-lugo","tag-wander-franco"],"modified_by":"Matt Graves","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3686"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}