Despite a smoldering spring performance, Royals’ prospect Bobby Witt Jr. will open the 2021 season in the minor leagues, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported. The 20-year-old fielder raised hopes that he would break the opening roster of the opening day with a cut of .289 / .325 / .526 in the Cactus League game. However, it is a team of only 40 plate displays, and according to Baseball-Reference, the numbers are shown against the pitcher that is qualitatively less than Double-A.
The Royals’ decision to lower Witt could lead to accusations of service delivery periods in some quarters, but that’s almost certainly not the case here. The reality is that he is a 20-year-old whose experience in the normal season as a pro 37 matches at the rookie league level in 2019. Witt also scored an OPS of just .670 over the 37 games. No sensible organization is going to make a coveted prospect of rookie ball jump to the highest level due to the hot water source and positive returns from the alternative premises in 2020.
In the long run, however, Witt has impressive potential. Our very own RJ Anderson recently placed Witt in 14th place on his list of overall top-50 prospects. Here is what he wrote about the former number 2 overall choice:
“There’s no doubt about Witt’s physical gifts. He can move and throw well enough to keep to the left of the interior, and he has the size and power to project at the peak of 20 plus homers. If he his a promise, he can become a star-level producer, yet there were critical criticisms that made him a polarizing prospect in the concept of 2019. Witt was older than the average prepster, and he had a history of swinging and missing – a concern because it suggests he may have problems with pro competition.When he mentions a prospect of a tree-or-bust, it gets too high, but it gets to the point that there is a significant pros and cons in his game. ‘
That tree or chest profile means the Royals need to proceed with Witt’s development carefully, and that’s exactly what they’re doing. If Witt continues this season in his first taste of the minors, it looks like he will be promoted to Kansas City at some point in 2021 – perhaps as their shortest stop for the present and future.