SURPRISE, Ariz. — The Bobby Witt Jr. Era of Kansas City Royals baseball will begin Thursday on opening day at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals announced Tuesday that they are promoting Witt, the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2019, to the major leagues.
Witt's debut figures to be the most anticipated in recent franchise history, perhaps surpassing that of Alex Gordon, who went from top prospect to franchise icon.
The move had been expected for months, that the Royals' top prospect and one of the most highly regarded young players in the sport will be promoted to the majors before the Royals play Cleveland at Kauffman Stadium in a 3:10 p.m. first pitch.
Witt found out he'd made the club Tuesday when he got called into manager Mike Matheny's office and saw Royals veteran players Salvador Perez, Whit Merrifield and Andrew Benintendi as well as general manager J.J. Picollo in the office with Matheny.
If that wasn't a big enough indication that one of the worst-kept secrets in baseball was about to be officially revealed, Witt noticed Merrifield recording.
"I saw Whit kind of videoing, so then that's kind of how I knew something was up," Witt said. "Then they told me the news. It was just awesome.
"And awesome being able to share it with those guys as well. Then I came in here afterwards and all the guys were congratulating me. I can't really put words to the feeling of how it was. My stomach sank. Tears came to my eyes. It was something I'll never forget."
Witt, who MLBPipeline.com ranked the No. 1 prospect in the sport earlier this spring, has played just one full season in the minor leagues. Yet he still demonstrated an undeniable talent and ability that forced the Royals to make him part of their plans this season.
"I always thought about, I'd seen videos of guys and it happening then I go in there and it actually happens," Witt said. "It's that moment that you never really thing it will actually happen, but it happened. It's a dream come true, truly a blessing. I can't wait to see what's to come."
Witt said his next focus immediately becomes staying in the big leagues, winning games and, ultimately, doing what the Royals did in 2015, referring to winning the World Series.
"That's the next chapter to try to get to," Witt said.
The 21-year-old has been the club's starting third baseman for the majority of spring training in Arizona. He often batted in the No. 2 spot in the club's batting order between All-Stars Merrifield and Perez, a record-setting catcher and former World Series MVP.
"I feel pretty comfortable with him at third base. I think he's going to do a tremendous job for us, help the team win," Perez told The Kansas City Star last week. "I think he's ready for opening day."
While MLBPipeline.com puts Witt atop the prospect rankings, Baseball America ranked him as its No. 3 overall prospect, while ESPN.com's Kiley McDaniel and Fangraphs.com each ranked him as their No. 2 prospect.
The Royals hadn't had a player ranked among the top three overall prospects by Baseball American since Gordon rose to No. 2 in 2007.
Gordon has even sang Witt's praises. In February, he told The Star, "I'm expecting big things out of him."
The son of 16-year MLB pitcher and former No. 3 overall draft pick, Bob Sr., Witt went second overall in the 2019 MLB draft out of Colleyville Heritage High School in Texas. He won Gatorade National Player of the Year honors as a senior in high school and helped lead his team to a state championship.
"We were hoping that it would be obvious that he's ready, and it has been," Matheny said prior to Tuesday's spring training finale. "The opportunity was obvious, so it was kind of just watching the process happen and making sure that we were just going through this thing all the way until we knew it was the right time for the right decision."
Asked if Witt would be the club's starting third baseman on opening day, Matheny grinned and replied, "There's a good chance. Yeah."
In his lone full-length season in the minors last year, he slashed .290/.361/.575 with 33 home runs, 35 doubles, 29 stolen bases and 97 RBIs in 123 games (61 at Double-A, 62 at Triple-A).
Witt , a 6-foot-1, right-handed hitting infielder, came within a rained-out game to register the third season of at least 30 steals, 30 doubles and 30 home runs in the minors since 1990. He had a stolen base wiped by the rainout, which kept him from reaching 30 steals.
Through 12 spring training games entering Tuesday, Witt slashed .406/.441/.781 with six extra-base hits, 11 runs scored and two stolen bases.
On Sunday, Royals general manager J.J. Picollo praised Witt's performance this spring, lauding the way he'd adapted to third base and described Witt as having performed "exceptionally well" overall during camp.
"I don't know if we can ever say a player doesn't have anything left to prove," Picollo said. "The great ones continue to get better, but he has done a lot of really, really good things for the second year in a row in spring training."
Entering Tuesday's Cactus League finale, Witt had as many home runs as strikeouts (three each) and has walked two times in 12 games. Witt was not in the starting lineup on Tuesday.
Last year in his first full major-league spring training camp (he took part in spring training 2.0 during the pandemic), Witt struck out 10 times and walked just twice in 14 games.
"He's done everything we would expect him to do," Picollo said.
Witt's first phone call went to his parents, who plan to attend Thursday's season opener in KC.
Witt said he's father's message to him, after the initial jubilation, was, "Keep going. It's just the beginning."
