The Royals appear to have avoided the worst on Bobby Witt Jr. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that the superstar shortstop avoided any fractures after being hit by a pitch in the left forearm/wrist area this afternoon. Kansas City subsequently announced that Witt sustained a forearm contusion and said he’d be reevaluated tomorrow.
Manager Matt Quatraro said immediately after the game that Witt was headed for x-rays (relayed by Anne Rogers of MLB.com). Last year’s AL MVP runner-up left the game after he was struck by a 96 MPH sinker from Andrés Muñoz. Quatraro said Witt initially lost the feeling in his fingers, though the manager added that “it was coming back” postgame. He framed the x-ray as more of a precautionary measure.
The team can breathe a sigh of relief after that initial testing. Lingering soreness could raise the possibility of a season-opening injured list stint, but he’s unlikely to face an extended absence. Maikel Garcia would likely step in at shortstop if Witt misses any time. That’d temporarily leave second and third base to the combination of Michael Massey and Jonathan India.
Witt is coming off one of the best seasons in franchise history. He won the batting title while hitting .332/.389/.588. Witt led the majors with 211 hits, including 45 doubles and 32 home runs. He stole 31 bases while earning Gold Glove and Silver Slugger honors. Witt started 160 games at shortstop and logged nearly 1400 innings. Garcia, who played 22 1/3 innings at the position, picked up the other two starts.
Injury prone, and terrible contract
Congrats Rex! I nominate your comment for most idiotic comment of the day! You should be proud!
@rondarling. Cheers.
You should be banned for 15 days for the worst comment yet
Injury prone?
150 games
158 games
161 games
Hopefully it was sarcasm, but they let anyone post here.
@vtadave. Serious as a fart in church
Nothing w a little flatulence
@darren to make it clear I was making a outlandish comment. There was also 8 comments after that ignored it. I was knocking the trolls cough cough darren.
This was a good joke. Tough room
@yoyo. Wasn’t supposed to be funny was meant to be very obvious.
Hopefully he is good to go. I drafted him first overall 🙂
I got Carroll and Soto on one team and Mookie on another. Better than last year, when I drafted Acuna and Strider…
@clofreesz. I drafted strider last year, because Nolan ryan said the reason why Tommy johns happen is because they don’t workout the legs enough figured quadzilla was safe.
Last year was a disaster for me. On the bright side, I got Skubal on 3 teams with 6th/7th round picks. Hoping for a better 2025. (Tried to draft Langford, but was too late. Had to compensate with James Wood and Dylan Crews.)
Nolan also worked a farm in the offseason if I recall. The best workouts are those from plain hard work, the natural way.
I’d listen to anything Nolan said. He pitched at a high level til he was well in his 40s and they weren’t just five innings. Impressive.
@this. I thought the same. Randy Johnson also was impressive. Pitchers aren’t built the same. Probably better to roll the dice in pitching for fantasy.
I drafted him 3 years ago and stashed him on my bench for a whole season. Best pick I ever made.
In my 3 leagues, I’ve gotten Witt, and Gunnar twice… 4th draft on Saturday. Picking 12th/12..
Lol there should be no way Witt is available at 12. Gunnar on the other hand… Not a knock on him, just that with his injury, people seem to be a little cautious about picking him up
Wow! Dodged a bullet there.
If you can’t pitch inside without hitting the batter then don’t pitch inside.
Huh? Dumb comment. If you can’t get out of the way, don’t crowd the plate…
Hitters are diving into the plate more and more after the league disciplines anyone pitching inside.
30 years ago, they would be knocked on their keister next pitch.
“Dumb comment”..You think hbp is all on the batter? Talk about a “dumb comment”…
MPBTR needs a thumbs-down button for the most assenine comments.
@bob maybe a down vote for spelling errors
#bringbackthedownvote
As his Fantasy Owner… phewwww!
Kinky!
I hate hearing news like this…Bobby Witt Jr is one of the most exciting young players in MLB and he is one of the few that I would pay money to watch in person
Good to hear it came back negative. Would not be fun without him playing the game.
Good for the game that one of the high profile players dodged a bullet…even though he didn’t dodge that pitch!
Overpay. Glass
Glad he’s ok
Baseball needs it’s young, marquee players on the field.