The Kansas City Royals, somehow, are still just two games out of the AL Wild Card despite going 2-4 over their last six games at home. Three of those games were against the first place Detroit Tigers, but it would have really been nice to see the Royals take at least two of three against the Los Angeles Angels. The Seattle Mariners have struggled as well, however, so while the Royals are running out of games, they aren’t dead yet.
This home stand was a good reminder of how important Bobby Witt Jr.
is to the Royals. Intellectually I think we all understand that, but seeing him hit clutch home runs in the Royals two wins this week really drove home to me how much he means to the team and the offense, and how I want to see him perform on the biggest stage.
The first home run came on Saturday night, August 30 against the aforementioned Tigers. The Royals were down one and had one on in the bottom of the eighth inning when Junior smacked a Tyler Holton fastball to dead center:
Junior’s home run on Saturday gave me goosebumps as a viewer. The crowd was full and loud over the weekend, and those games against the Tigers had an energy about them because of the audience and the high stakes for each individual game left in the season. You want your best players coming through in the biggest moments of the season, and Witt did just that on Saturday.
That pitch from Holton was outside but elevated, and Witt knows what do with elevated fastballs. He sent another elevated fastball over the wall on Thursday, September 4th from Ryan Zeferjahn.
We’ve seen Witt turn on faster inside fastballs before and send them over the wall, but being able to hit a 97 miles per hour pitch that is so inside that it’s likely not a strike and keep that ball fair is still really impressive. It’s likely that both of the pitches that Witt has sent out of the ballpark for his last two home runs would have been called balls, but both pitchers left them too elevated for Junior, and he made them pay.
It’s great to see Witt thrive in these moments, because it gives you confidence that as the stakes get higher, whether in this season or in a future season, he will continue to deliver big hits. I do think that some players are able to stay within themselves in these big moments, while others can feel the pressure and press accordingly. Junior, so far, has been able to continue to perform like himself when the spotlight is on him, and he’s an excellent player, so he’s going to get great results if he just plays like himself in the biggest moments.
As a viewer and a fan I want to see Witt continue to get opportunities in high stakes moments, particularly over the next few years while they have him under contract. That puts pressure on the team, the coaching staff and the front office to be good enough to reach the playoffs consistently, because they all have the opportunity to come alongside a special baseball player who looks like he will be in the Hall of Fame someday if his body holds up. The Royals are going to need other players to step up and deliver clutch hits themselves, or else this season will go down as a fun but ultimately frustrating year with the team falling just short of the playoffs. The future still looks bright to me, but nothing is guaranteed.
The Angels coming into town was a good reminder of a worse case scenario when you have a superstar on your team. Mike Trout has only played in three playoff games in is career, and none of those happened when fellow superstar Shohei Ohtani was on the team. Trout had an electric run of seasons to start his career, but the team just was not good enough to give him opportunities to shine in October. The outfielder has not aged well, and has missed a ton of games these past four seasons, and the Angels have suffered accordingly. If Trout does ever reach the postseason again, it will be as a shell of himself.
I think the Royals are better positioned as a team than the Angels teams of the 2010’s were, and I trust the front office to continue to improve the roster around Witt. Still, I want there to be a sense of urgency for everyone. Junior is an incredible player, and we already see that he’s capable of coming through in awesome ways. These late in the season moments are cool, but they won’t stand the test of time like big playoff hits will. I want to see Witt in those moments in a Royals uniform and admire what he’s able to do with them.
