The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Royals sign 23-year-old SS Bobby Witt Jr. to $288.7M, 11-year team-record contract
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Royals owner John Sherman remembers hanging along the fence at spring training in Arizona in 2020, shortly after he had purchased the club from David Glass, and watching top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. rip line drives to every part of the field. Sherman had a suspicion even then that he was watching something special.
Over the next few years, Witt shot through the minors like one of those hard-hit line drives. He made his big league debut in 2022, hit 20 homers and stole 30 bases. And he followed with a sophomore season to remember, finishing seventh in MVP voting.
Now, Witt will be doing those things in Kansas City for the foreseeable future. The Royals officially signed the 23-year-old shortstop to an 11-year deal worth more than $288.7 million guaranteed Tuesday, easily the longest and richest contract in club history. It includes a three-year, $89 million team option that would drive the value to more than $377 million and keep Witt with the Royals through the 2037 season.
“We wanted to get this done before the season, and ideally before spring training,” Sherman said. “It’s really, really hard to draft and develop generational talent in this business, and it’s even harder to keep them in the same uniform, and that’s what this is really all about.” The Royals approached Witt about a long-term deal last September, when he had just wrapped up a season that proved he could be the cornerstone of a rebuilding effort for a 106-loss team. The negotiations began in earnest during the winter meetings, and some creativity from both sides allowed them to find a middle ground.
Witt’s deal riffs on his lucky No. 7 jersey by including a signing bonus of $7,777,777, payable in seven installments. There is some flexibility built into the contract: Witt has four player options at $35 million annually from 2031-34, giving him the chance to redo his deal with Kansas City or test free agency. The Royals’ three-year team option follows and would pay $33 million in 2035 and $28 million each in 2036 and the concluding year. If all the options are included, Witt would be 37 by the time the contract expires.
The contract, and the offseason in general, represents a seismic shift for a frugal, small-market ballclub. The Royals’ previous record contract was a four-year, $82 million deal given to AllStar catcher Salvador Perez. Yet over the past few months, they have committed more than $100 million to free agents, almost completely revamping their starting rotation and destitute bullpen while adding Hunter Renfroe and Brandon Frazier to fill out the depth chart. Those deals will not only help Kansas City compete in a wide open AL Central but were important to Witt’s negotiation.