Player of the Week: Bobby Witt Jr.

As if there was any doubt

Last week, Lucas Erceg won the unofficial Royals Review player of the week honors. Truthfully, I considered giving it to Bobby Witt Jr. because of how well Witt was playing. This time, I can’t ignore the Kansas City superstar anymore: Witt is the third Royals Review player of the week.

In part, this is the case because nobody else on the team has done particularly well. Since the last time I posted one of these articles, six different Royals have accrued a dozen or more plate appearances and have posted a .350 OPS or worse. Witt has been the best, but even the second-best hitter in that time frame,Vinnie Pasquantino, only posted a .655 OPS.

But that has just made the decision particularly easy. Witt has been cruising over the last week, putting up a .360/.448/.560 line and crushing his second home run of the year after a wild 10-pitch plate appearance in the Bronx. Witt added one stolen base and wasn’t caught stealing on any attempts, bringing up his success rate on the year to a career best 83.3%.

I hope none of us lose sight of Witt’s excellence. We are witnessing a future Hall of Famer at the height of his powers—and this is not hyperbole. Per Fangraphs’ version of Wins Above Replacement, Witt eclipsed the 10-WAR mark last year in his age-24 season. One year later, he is on pace to hit 9 WAR. He will eclipse Mike Sweeney’s career WAR figure before Independence Day. Yes, Shohei Ohtani is a marvel and Aaron Judge is one of the best hitters of all time, but no other player brings the combination of hitting ability, fielding ability, and speed on the basepaths to the game.

Truth be told, Witt could be the player of the week every week. This week, though, he absolutely deserves it. Long live Witt, and thank God the Royals inked him to a long-term deal.