USATI
The Bobby Witt Jr. era has begun in Kansas City. Thursday afternoon, Witt introduced himself to the Royals faithful with a go-ahead run-scoring double in the eighth inning to lead his club to an Opening Day win over the Cleveland Guardians (KC 3, CLE 1). The double was Witt’s first career hit and RBI, and the Kauffman Stadium crowd chanted “Bobby! Bobby!” throughout the at-bat.
Here’s the video:
Look how high that pitch was! Most hitters who swing at a pitch up there come up empty — there’s a reason elevated fastballs are such a popular strikeout pitch — but Witt is not most hitters. He not only make contact with a pitch that was almost literally at eye level, he was able to drive it to the pull field for extra bases. Impressive.
Also impressive: Witt’s play at third base. The natural shortstop is playing third in deference to Adalberto Mondesi, and earlier in Thursday’s game he stole a base hit from Andrés Giménez with a slick sliding play. He starred on both sides of the ball.
Witt, 21, was the No. 2 pick in the 2019 draft. His father, Bobby Sr., pitched 16 seasons in the big leagues with seven teams from 1986-2001. Our R.J. Anderson ranked Bobby Jr. the…
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