In the 25-plus years I’ve been covering the Kansas City Royals on a regular basis, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to interview young stars about to reach free agency. They always say the same thing publicly, something like, “I really like it here. I’d like to sign a long-term deal and play my entire career with the Royals.”
Of course, they rarely do.
Bobby Witt Jr. said the same thing. But the really cool thing is, he actually meant it.
In early February 2024, the team announced that Witt had signed an extension that would keep him with the club at least through the 2030 season. With player and club options, it could keep him in a Royals uniform through the 2037 season.
It’s being labeled as an 11-year deal, worth $288.7 million. It will include player opt-outs after the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th years. If Witt chooses not to opt out, three one-year club options could stretch the deal, reaching $377.7 million over 14 years.
Witt’s is easily the largest contract in Royals history. It’s significantly more than three times more than the total value of Salvador Perez’s $82 million contract, and if Witt stays for the entire 14 years, it’s more than four times more.
The funny thing is, from a sports perspective, he’s worth it.
More importantly, it’s also the longest in club history. The 14 years matches Fernando Tatis’ 14-year contract signed with the San Diego Padres in 2021 as the longest in Major League history.
The Royals are trendsetters!
“I’m not sure I’m going to get a standing ovation when I go to Orlando today for the owners meetings,” Royals majority owner John Sherman said at the press conference announcing the new contract for Witt . “But there will certainly be respect.”
This move marks a change in approach unseen from the Royals since the days of Ewing Kauffman. The Royals are being proactive instead of reactive.
Witt had just one more season before he would have become arbitration-eligible. Without a long-term deal, he would have hit free agency after the 2026 season. The Royals bought out all of those years with this contract, plus his first four years of free agency. At least.
So what makes Witt worth this kind of deal?
You could talk about the skills. He’s one of the fastest players in baseball. He recorded the Royals’ first 30-30 season when he hit 30 home runs and stole 49 bases in just his second season. He backed it up last year with another 30-30 season. He led the majors in hits (211) and batting average (.332).
He’s improved defensively to the point that he won his first gold glove at shortstop. He also has a lightning-quick bat that delivers gap-to-gap and home-run power. He finished second to Aaron Judge in the AL MVP voting.
He’s also a leader in the clubhouse. As a reporter covering the team during the 56-106 2023 season, we all knew that no matter what happened in the game, if Witt played he’d be available for a quote. And it wouldn’t be “coach speak.” He’s genuine.
He reminds me of another transcendent Kansas City professional athlete from the Dallas area, who just happens to be a part-owner of the Royals.
Patrick Mahomes II won his third Super Bowl in his fourth appearance in the last five years the weekend after Witt signed the long-term deal. He too captured the imagination of Kansas City sports fans early in his career. He too did things few others at his position have ever done. He too signed a huge contract that still seems like it does him a disservice.
There’s one other thing about these two young stars. They both are namesake sons of former Major League Baseball pitchers. Bobby Witt Sr. spent 16 seasons with seven different clubs. He retired in 2001 when his son was a toddler, so Bobby Jr. didn’t grow up in clubhouses like Mahomes did, but the youngster knows about the game.
They both know how to act around the media and other athletes. They get “it.” They’re both superstars who are team first.
“He’s a pretty special person,” said JJ Picollo, the Royals executive vice president of baseball operations/general manager when the contract was announced. “The fact that he cares about the team as much as he cares about his own accolades says everything. He has known he’s the most talented guy when he steps on the field since he was 6- or 7-years old. But he cares about his teammates just as much, and that’s a very special quality.”
He also makes Kansas City a more desirable destination for free agents.
“We’ve secured a superstar in the game,” Picollo continued. “We’re going to have a player here in the middle or top of the lineup, wherever he ends up hitting, for a lot of years. And it gives us someone to build around.
“Our front office has learned that Kansas City is a destination spot for free agents. It’s nice to be able to sign guys when you have pillars of stability in the coming years. We have somebody to build around.”
There were still some questions regarding this contract that were answered at the press conference. The first is why Witt would leave so much money on the table. There’s something to be said for the guarantees, but you have to wonder why Witt didn’t bank on himself more.
Picollo said, “When you’re as talented as he is, you know the finances are going to take care of themselves, but he was talking about the culture of winning.”
Witt genuinely likes it in Kansas City, and he believes the future is bright for this team.
“(The Royals are) trying to build off what we can do to keep performing,” Witt said. “You saw all the moves that they made this off-season. It just felt like this is the right time for sure. It’s time to win now. I’ve been able to talk with them and hear about their hopes, trying to get back to winning baseball.”
He proved prophetic as the Royals reached the postseason in 2024 for the first time since their World Series title in 2015.
Keep in mind that Witt just turned 25 in June. When asked his initial reaction to the conclusion of the negotiations, he sounded like a kid.
He talked about the steady stream of texts from teammates and friends. He was watching the sports news shows on television. “I kept seeing ‘breaking news,’ and it was about me. That’s pretty special.”
The best text was one from Mahomes himself.
“He was pretty fired up,” Witt said. “He said, ‘Let’s go. Can’t wait to see what you do for the city.’ I texted back, ‘Bring another one home.’”
The other question is why the Royals would choose Witt when they had passed on so many other potential superstars in the past, guys like Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye and Carlos Beltran. All of those players were traded before they hit free agency.
Why is Witt different? Maybe it’s just timing.
“We’ve been committed to winning for a long time,” Sherman said. “There’s not a straight line between point A and point B. At the end of the day, it can’t just be what you say; it has to be what you do. I would hope that people would take from this that JJ and his team are (focused on) our commitment to winning. We want to do something special for the fans of Kansas City.”
Picollo added that during the negotiations, Witt “was talking about ‘the culture of winning.’ That really resonated with John and (me). I think it was probably the driving factor on how we got to the finish line.”
Witt is the now cornerstone of the franchise for the foreseeable future.
If the Royals don’t find someone with enough money to purchase stadium naming rights for a new stadium, whenever that happens, they can just call the new ballpark, “the house that Bobby built.”
This kid is that different.