Witt becomes youngest Royal to crush 100 career home runs

KANSAS CITY -- The swing Bobby Witt Jr. was seeking in the eighth inning Tuesday night was simple, one in which he could just find the barrel on a pitch that he knew he could drive.

It ended up being a statement.

On the ninth pitch of an at-bat that Witt had battled to stay in, he connected with a middle-middle cutter that sailed out to straightaway center field, up and over three separate walls to land at 449 feet and send the Royals to a 5-2 win over the Rangers at Kauffman Stadium.

It was Witt’s 100th career home run, making him the youngest Royal to hit that mark at just 25 years and 66 days old on Tuesday. That broke Carlos Beltrán’s previous record at 26 years and 108 days old in 2003.

More than that, Witt became just the fourth player in Major League history to record at least 100 home runs and 100 stolen bases through his first four big league seasons, joining Julio Rodríguez (2022-25), Darryl Strawberry (1983-86) and Bobby Bonds (1968-71).

“It’s special,” Witt said. “Just seeing the kind of names on that list, whatever they showed, but now it’s onto the next. It’s special. We enjoy it. But right now, we’re trying to win ballgames.”

The nonchalant response has come to be expected from the Royals’ generational shortstop, who is as genuine in his desire to win as anything: Nothing else matters.

It’s a good thing, then, that the Royals are doing a lot of that right now, having won five in a row and seven of eight games on their current 10-game homestand with two more to play against the Rangers.

“It just feels like we’re playing our game,” Witt said. “This is how we envision ourselves being, and this is us going out there and playing.”

While Witt has recorded a hit in every game this homestand, he had been sitting at 99 career homers for a little bit, his last home run coming Aug. 8 in Minnesota, while he stole his 100th career base two days earlier in Boston.

His homer Tuesday couldn’t have come at a better time with the Royals leading by only one run after they failed to plate more than one run in the seventh with the bases loaded and no outs.

“It’s unbelievable,” first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said. “He’s one of the best players in the league for a reason. He’s a superstar. And that at-bat was incredible. It kind of took the wind out of their sails a little bit. … For him to do that, it kind of put a statement on that game.”

That’s what Witt has been doing for four seasons now, ever since he debuted in 2022 and established himself as one of the greats of the game. He’s one of only six shortstops in the last 95 years to hit at least 100 homers through his age 25 season, joining Alex Rodriguez (241), Cal Ripken Jr. (133), Francisco Lindor (130), Carlos Correa (107) and Hanley Ramirez (103).

Among that group, only Rodriguez and Ramirez also had 100 steals by age 25.

That sums up what kind of player Witt is, with his power and speed combination -- along with elite defense -- that means anyone watching is going to see him doing something special at any point of a game on any given night.

“I want him up there every inning,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “You look at the lineup, and you’re trying to figure out, ‘How many times can we get him to the plate? How many guys can we keep on base for him when he does come to the plate?’ That’s an immense amount of pressure on a young player, too, that understands that’s how everybody feels about him. But he has the physical ability, he has the makeup and the mental capacity to handle it.”