Weekend at Bobby's

Bobby Witt Jr. does it all, leading the Royals to their first three-game winning streak of 2023 and a sweep of the division-leading Twins.

The Minnesota Twins annoy me.

They rolled into Kansas City for a three-game series in first place in the AL Central. Their record was 54-50. They were 9-1 against the Royals.

So the way I like to look at it is the Twins are 45-49 against everyone else. Hardly October mettle.

Guess what…The Royals annoy me, too.

They entered this series on pace for 117 losses. Even though the defeats have piled up all year, how in the world could a team go almost two-thirds of the season and not stumble into a three-game winning streak? Even the 1962 Mets, the worst team in recent history, peeled off three in a row. The Oakland A’s, a team whose owners want them to lose, somehow won seven in a row this season.

Let’s just say not much was expected from the three-game series that kicked off on Friday at Kauffman Stadium. Then the Royals decided to flip the script. They out-hit, out-pitched, out-fielded, out-ran and straight up out-played the Twins. They swept the series, their first of the season, and are now the proud owners of a three-game winning streak.

The hero was Bobby Witt Jr.

I absolutely despise making comps with Hall of Famers, but Witt’s weekend was reminiscent of the days when George Brett would put the entire team on his shoulders and carry them across the finish line. There were times when he just wouldn’t let his team lose. Brett had the uncanny ability of being in the right place at the right time and delivering exactly what the Royals needed. That was the vibe Witt was working with this weekend.

When Witt strode to the plate in the tenth inning Friday night with the bases loaded, the Royals were down a run and were staring another crushing defeat in the eyes. When you’ve lost as often as the Royals this summer, it’s difficult to define any particular defeat as “crushing,” but giving up a two-run ninth-inning lead with your closer on the bump would qualify.

On Friday, Witt would not let the Royals lose.

Before we go too far down the walk-off grand slam rabbit hole, we need to backtrack for a moment. The Witt moment was set up by a pair of walks drawn by Nicky Lopez and Maikel Garcia. Both were exceptional plate appearances.

Duran was working glove-side to both. Lopez fought off a 3-2 pitch on the inner half before spitting on a low four-seamer at 101 MPH. Garcia didn’t bite on a spiked curveball on a 1-2 count and then watched the next two ride just off the outer edge. The wrinkle in this situation was Kyle Isbel was sitting on second to open the inning as the obligatory Manfred Man. Isbel swiped third during Lopez’s PA. Lopez then stole second while Garcia was at the plate.

The first batter of the inning was Drew Waters who struck out. I was just glad that he didn’t square to bunt. We know from watching a couple of weeks ago that bunting isn’t a particular skill residing in his tool kit. I was likewise pleased that Lopez didn’t show bunt. With a runner on second, swing away. Good things can happen.

So the Witt plate appearance…As good as the previous two were, Witt’s did not start especially strong. He swung at a curve well off the plate and after taking another curve for a ball, swung through a belt-high heater at 101 MPH.

For the season, Witt is hitting .226/.265/.422 with two strikes against him. That line doesn’t look that hot, but he’s actually one of the better hitters in the majors in that situation. His OPS+ with two strikes is 163, meaning he’s 63 percent better than the league average in that situation. Prior to Friday, seven of his 16 home runs had come with two strikes.

Witt was good with two strikes last year as well with a 125 OPS+. That he’s improved with two strikes and cut his whiff rate from 21.4 percent in 2022 to 19.7 percent this year is evidence that he’s making adjustments and those adjustments are working.

But this…I don’t know that you adjust for this. What Witt did was just pure baseball talent.

I have watched this about a million times since Friday night. I am agog at what Witt did to that pitch. You just aren’t supposed to turn on a 102 MPH fastball in that location. Normally, I would think that if you swing at that pitch running in on your hands, you’re going to snap your bat and have a helluva stinger to deal with. That Witt was able to pull his hands in so far, shorten his swing and muscle that ball over 400 feet is something you just don’t teach. You don’t adjust so you can handle that pitch. In the most basic of terms, you see the ball and you react.

Mercy.

It was a 3-2 pitch. With the bases loaded, Duran couldn’t afford to get cute. He needed to make a pitch. Everyone in the park knew it was going to be a triple-digit heater. As noted, most of the pitches Duran made on Friday were to the glove side. Two previous fastballs to Witt were in the zone on the outer edge. (A third ran up and in.) It just stood to reason that Duran would stay on the outer half and up, locate in the zone so that if Witt froze he would strike out. And if Witt offered he would likely miss.

What Witt did to that baseball was completely insane. How about a little perspective? Since going back to 2008, there have been nine times when a right-handed batter turned on a 99 MPH or faster pitch out of the strike zone and launched a home run. No one had ever done it on a pitch that topped 100 MPH. Until Friday.

Most of the pitches out of the zone were more elevated than inside. We know how hitters love the high cheese and most of them chase, rarely making contact, especially on the higher velocity fastballs. This chart shows that Witt’s home run was one of three that came on a pitch well inside.

Only Elvis Andrus hit a home run on a 99+ MPH pitch that was further inside.

The walkoff capped a four-hit night for Witt. He just missed a home run in the sixth, settling for a double off the top of the wall. He added a couple of singles, a stolen base (his 29th of the season) and scored two runs while driving in six. He was directly responsible for seven of the Royals’ eight runs on the night. It was a special evening for sure.

I’m dropping this here to remind you of my write-up on the Nicky Lopez trade to Atlanta.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a fantastic performance from the Royals and fallen into the “momentum” trap. Something like, “What a game! This could be the one that sets the Royals right!” And then they lose eight in a row or something and the good vibes are immediately washed away. So despite the walk-off win on Friday, I was skeptical that that could turn into something good on Saturday. After all, Jordan Lyles was on the mound. Lyles picked up his first victory back on June 24 against the Rays. It was the first time all year the Royals won a game that Lyles started. Since that win, they’ve lost three Lyles starts in a row.

He actually pitched well in his starts that bookended the All-Star break, throwing 11 innings and allowing just one run. Still, the Royals couldn’t find a way to win either of those games. Entering Saturday they were 1-18 in games Lyles started. If momentum were going to be derailed, it would be in a Lyles start.

Witt did everything he could to make sure the Royals stayed hot.

Again, on another full count. This one was a hanging slider that was about as close to middle-middle as you can get. I don’t think Twins starter Bailer Ober wanted to put that particular pitch in that particular position. I do think that Witt was just fine with how that plate appearance played out.

It should be noted that Ober worked a couple of fastballs up and in to Witt in that first at-bat. I don’t think there was any intent behind those, but it was certainly something to think about.

On Saturday, Witt added three more hits after that dinger, including a triple. He finished with two runs scored and three RBIs. It was two days that had almost never been seen in the majors before. Is that hyperbole? Nah. More like insanity.

Witt was a one-man wrecking crew in the first two games of the series. On Saturday though, his teammates decided to partake. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Drew Waters collecting two hits including a triple, Kyle Isbel chipping in with four singles and a pair of RBI. Michael Massey went yard for the eighth time this year. Overall, the Royals bashed a season-high 18 hits en route to a 10-7 victory. In a Lyles start.

Sunday’s game was a different kind of beast. Witt broke his bat during his first AB (the surviving lumber should find its way to the Royals Hall of Fame given the tweet above) and struck out. He whiffed one more time before singling in his final at-bat of the weekend.

With the bat returning to mortal status, Witt’s glove got in on the action where he made several highlight-worthy plays in the field. With starter Kyle Yarbrough cruising through seven innings, those plays certainly made an impact on the afternoon, keeping traffic off the bases. With the Royals running their best relievers on Friday and Saturday trying to close out a pair of elusive victories, the bullpen options were rather limited, so for Yarbrough to get through seven cannot be overstated. His performance was key.

To get through the last two innings, Matt Quatraro went to Dylan Coleman who struck out two and pitched just his third clean inning in 14 appearances this year. Coleman was followed by Carlos Hernández, who was pitching for the third consecutive day. With Aroldis Chapman now in the employ of the Texas Rangers, Hernández is either the second-best, or best option in the Royals’ bullpen. However you rank the relievers, the flamethrower has been a revelation since the Royals decided he would be better served coming out of the bullpen full-time. He’s cut his walk rate in half and almost doubled his strikeout rate. A 10.6 SO/9 and 2.4 BB/9 will play. So will a triple-digit fastball.

Apart from losing a bit of feel to the second batter he faced, he punched out two, including Joey Gallo to end the game.

The focus was rightfully on Witt this weekend, but spare some praise for Hernández. Three outings in three days. He covered three critical innings, striking out six and walking two.

Let’s wrap up with Witt. Going back to June 2, his last 50 games, he’s hitting .303/.341/.505. He has 21 extra-base hits and is striking out just 16 percent of the time. The questions that surrounded him at shortstop at the beginning of the season have been answered.

After a solid, yet unspectacular rookie campaign, it feels like everything is coming together for Witt. It’s a sliver of a very important development in what has been a dismal season. And for a weekend, fun baseball made its return to Kauffman Stadium, powered by Witt. I’ll take it.