Bobby Witt

Bobby Witt

22-Year-Old ShortstopSS
Kansas City Royals
2023 Fantasy Outlook
Rookies are supposed to struggle, but someone forgot to tell Witt Jr. He crushed the ball throughout the Cactus League and defied the odds to make the Opening Day roster for the Royals. While he did struggle to accept walks, leading to issues in OBP leagues, he also became just the sixth player age 22 or younger to homer at least 20 times and steal at least 30 bases, while also scoring 80 runs and driving in 80, joining the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Ronald Acuna Jr, Cesar Cedeno, Willie Davis and Mike Trout who did that at ages 21 and 22. Many of his age peers were still in A and AA ball while Witt Jr had an above league average OPS despite the low walk total. He has gone from wildcard last winter to a likely first-round selection in standard 5x5 leagues this winter. The OBP penalty may hang around for another season, but he could be peak Hanley Ramirez in a hurry with his bat and legs. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
#10
ADP
$Signed a one-year contract with the Royals in April of 2022.
Seeing limited time for USA
SSKansas City Royals
March 15, 2023
Witt has a hit in his only at-bat through two games for Team USA at the World Baseball Classic.
ANALYSIS
Witt has been a bench bat for the USA, but he was fortunate to log plenty of time in spring training before leaving for the international tournament. Over seven Cactus League games, he hit .389 (7-for-18) with four RBI, a stolen base and six runs scored. Witt showed enticing speed (30 steals) and power (20 home runs, 31 doubles) over 150 games as a rookie last year, and he is penciled in as the Royals' starting shortstop this season after spending a large part of 2022 at third base.
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Batting Stats
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2022
2022 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
2
60
34
6
6
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
2
15
16
1
3
3
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2020
 
 
+1%
OPS vs RHP
2022
 
 
+1%
OPS vs RHP
2021
No Stats
2020
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2020vs Left .717 148 24 6 24 3 .234 .264 .454
Since 2020vs Right .724 484 58 14 56 27 .260 .304 .420
2022vs Left .717 148 24 6 24 3 .234 .264 .454
2022vs Right .724 484 58 14 56 27 .260 .304 .420
2021vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2021vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2020
 
 
+23%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+23%
OPS at Home
2021
No Stats
2020
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2020Home .799 306 52 8 40 21 .288 .337 .463
Since 2020Away .651 326 30 12 40 9 .223 .255 .397
2022Home .799 306 52 8 40 21 .288 .337 .463
2022Away .651 326 30 12 40 9 .223 .255 .397
2021Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2021Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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Stat Review
How does Bobby Witt compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.22
 
BB Rate
4.7%
 
K Rate
21.4%
 
BABIP
.295
 
ISO
.174
 
AVG
.254
 
OBP
.294
 
SLG
.428
 
OPS
.722
 
wOBA
.313
 
Exit Velocity
89.7 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
31.0%
 
Barrels/PA
6.4%
 
Expected BA
.252
 
Expected SLG
.427
 
Sprint Speed
25.8 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
36.2%
 
Line Drive %
17.4%
 
Fly Ball %
46.4%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Bobby Witt See More
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19 days ago
Erik Halterman breaks down the betting odds for the 2023 World Baseball Classic and offers his best bets for the pool and knockout stages.
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2022
2021
2020
Witt showcased such a tantalizing combination of power and speed at Double-A and Triple-A (33 HR, 29 SB in 123 games) that he has an NFBC ADP inside the top 100 in November and December draft and hold leagues. We still don't know when he will make his MLB debut, but Opening Day is a possibility, as is late April, depending on the new collective bargaining agreement. While Witt, who turns 22 in June, has experience at the alternate training site and in big-league spring training, he had never played minor-league games above rookie ball prior to last season, which makes his exploits in the upper levels all the more impressive. His hit tool was considered his worst tool when he was drafted, and while that may still be the case, his 23.2 K% in the upper levels suggests it won't be a debilitating issue that prevents him from being a counting-stat monster. As a rookie, Witt shouldn't be expected to come close to the .290 average he logged in the minors last season. A .250 or .260 average in his first season is feasible, but the range of realistic outcomes also dips well below that .250 mark.
Despite having never played in a full-season league, Witt's performance at the Royals' alternate training site was promising enough that there is already speculation he could debut in his age-20/21 season. That may be overly optimistic, but when longtime baseball man and Royals GM Dayton Moore says Witt is the "most talented position player he's ever been a part of" and the word "special" gets tossed around with regularity, it's hard to pump the breaks on the building hype. In the months between spring training and summer camp, Witt was scrimmaging against veteran big leaguers in Texas, and he showed an improved approach all summer. He played primarily shortstop, but also got reps at third base, which would probably be his position if he does debut this year. Witt has the tools to go 35/20, so the rave reviews about his improved hit tool should be music to the ears of anyone rostering him in dynasty.
Projecting how much a high schooler will hit in pro ball is probably the toughest aspect of amateur scouting. For instance, if Witt really hits, he will be a star. But we still have no idea if he will hit big-league pitching. He is excellent at everything else. A 6-foot-1 19-year-old from a baseball family, Witt combines plus-plus raw power with plus speed, above-average shortstop defense, a plus arm and excellent intangibles. Even playing half his games in Kansas City, he has the tools to be a 35-25 guy if he hits. In fact, "If He Hits" would be the title of this outlook. The Royals selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in last year's draft because they think/hope he will hit. His 19.4 K% and 37.4 Oppo% in the AZL were encouraging marks, but his 52.0 GB% was far from ideal. For the eternal optimists: Witt hit .308/.352/.446 with his lone AZL home run over his final 15 games.
More Fantasy News
Achieves 30-steal season
SSKansas City Royals
October 3, 2022
Witt went 1-for-5 with a stolen base and a run scored in Monday's 5-2 extra-inning win over the Guardians.
ANALYSIS
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Closing in on 30 steals
SSKansas City Royals
October 2, 2022
Witt went 1-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base in Saturday's 7-1 win over the Guardians.
ANALYSIS
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Gets Wednesday off
SSKansas City Royals
September 28, 2022
Witt is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Tigers.
ANALYSIS
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Logs steal in win
SSKansas City Royals
September 22, 2022
Witt went 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base and a run scored in Thursday's 4-1 win over the Twins.
ANALYSIS
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Knocks in two runs
SSKansas City Royals
September 18, 2022
Witt went 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored in Saturday's victory over the Red Sox.
ANALYSIS
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