Despite a fierce performance in the spring, the main candidate for the Royals, Bobby Witt Jr., will open the 2021 season in the minor leagues, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.. The 20-year-old infielder had hopes that he could break the opening day’s active roster with a 0.289 / 0.325 / 0.526 cut-off line in the Cactus League game. However, this is an interval of just 40 plate appearances and, according to Baseball Reference estimates, these numbers were against pitchers who average slightly below Double A in terms of quality.
The Royals’ decision to downgrade Witt may lead to charges of manipulating seniority in some sectors, but it is almost certainly not the case here. The reality is that he is a 20-year-old whose experience in the regular season as a pro reaches 37 games at the beginner’s league level in 2019. In addition, Witt achieved an OPS of just 0.670 in those 37 games. No prudent organization will skip a coveted newbie prospect to the highest level because of a hot spring and positive returns from the alternative site in 2020.
In the long run, however, Witt has impressive potential. Our own RJ Anderson recently ranked Witt in 14th place on his list of the 50 best candidates. Here’s what he wrote about general choice # 2 earlier:
“There is no questioning Witt’s physical gifts. He can move and shoot well enough to be on the left side of the infield and has the size and strength to project to more than 20 homers at his peak. If he lives on According to his promise, he could very well become a star-level producer, however, there were some valid criticisms that made him a polarizing prospect towards the 2019 draft. That is, Witt was older than the average coach and had a history of fluctuations and fouls – – a concern because it suggests that he may have problems against professional competitors. Calling him a boom or break prospect exaggerates, but shows that there are significant advantages and disadvantages to his game. “
This profile of expansion or decline means that the Royals should proceed with caution with Witt’s development, and that is exactly what they are doing. If Witt continues to produce in his first taste of minor highs this season, then it seems likely that he will be promoted to Kansas City sometime in 2021 – perhaps as his shortstop of the present and the future.