How long would the Royals have to keep Witt in the minors before calling him up if they didn't want it to count as a year of service time? Assuming that Witt shows he can do this in the minors and looks ready.
If he's on the roster 172 days out of 187, that counts as one year. So he would have to stay at the alternate site until around April 16.
But! The Royals have never shown any inclination to do something like that. And since Witt hasn't been a pro for that long and didn't exactly dominate in the complex leagues, it's not universally accepted that he's "ready" like a Kris Bryant was a few years ago. So if Witt is sent down (which I'm still fully expecting) he would be down for longer than a couple of weeks. If he shows that he's ready—pretty much by continuing to perform like we've seen this spring—he could be up within a couple of months. If they're feeling aggressive.
How long would the Royals have to keep Witt in the minors before calling him up if they didn't want it to count as a year of service time? Assuming that Witt shows he can do this in the minors and looks ready.
If he's on the roster 172 days out of 187, that counts as one year. So he would have to stay at the alternate site until around April 16.
But! The Royals have never shown any inclination to do something like that. And since Witt hasn't been a pro for that long and didn't exactly dominate in the complex leagues, it's not universally accepted that he's "ready" like a Kris Bryant was a few years ago. So if Witt is sent down (which I'm still fully expecting) he would be down for longer than a couple of weeks. If he shows that he's ready—pretty much by continuing to perform like we've seen this spring—he could be up within a couple of months. If they're feeling aggressive.