Witt makes history as 1st shortstop with two 30-30 seasons
Anne Rogers
@anne__rogersKANSAS CITY ¨C Tuesday night was another history-making game for Bobby Witt Jr., which is becoming a common phrase when talking about the rising star shortstop.
After drawing a walk in the first inning against Tigers starter Casey Mize, Witt swiped his 30th base of the season, giving him his second 30-homer, 30-stolen base season of his career -- and making him the first shortstop in MLB history to record multiple 30-30 seasons.
Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor is not far behind becoming the second in history, needing three more bags to achieve the feat.
Witt recognized how special the achievement was while also acknowledging it would be much better if the Royals would have won Tuesday night following their 3-1 extra-inning defeat to the Tigers at Kauffman Stadium. Kansas City is trying to make its first postseason appearance since winning the 2015 World Series, and Witt is doing all he can to get the Royals to October.
The 24-year-old is slashing .331/.386/.598 after three walks on Tuesday. He recorded a multi-hit game on Monday in which he launched a grand slam for his 32nd home run of the year and recorded an infield single for his Majors-leading 200th hit of the year, marking the ninth 200-plus-hit season in franchise history.
¡°It¡¯s pretty special any time you get to be the first,¡± Witt said. ¡°But it¡¯s now over. Now we¡¯re on to tomorrow.
¡°... Any time you lose it¡¯s frustrating. But it¡¯s just trying to figure out how you can improve. We didn¡¯t come this far just to come this far. We¡¯ve got to keep improving to get to where we need to be.¡±
Witt knew he was at 29 stolen bases this season when he reached first base on Tuesday against Mize, but he wasn¡¯t thinking about reaching 30 for the history -- he was thinking about getting into scoring position for Salvador Perez.
¡°Just trying to get the extra 90 feet,¡± Witt said. ¡°Any time Salvy¡¯s up, I can score from first, score from wherever, but any time I¡¯m able to see something, get an extra 90 feet, I want to be able to do that to get into better scoring position for guys behind me.¡±
Only six shortstops have ever recorded a 30-30 season in MLB history. Witt also became the first player ever -- regardless of position -- with multiple 30-30 campaigns through his age-24 season.
Witt became the first Royal ever to record a 30-30 season in 2023 when he hit 30 home runs and swiped 49 bags. And he¡¯s just the eighth player to record back-to-back 30-30 seasons, joining Ryan Braun (2011-12), Alfonso Soriano (¡®05-06 and ¡®02-03), Vladimir Guerrero Sr. (¡®01-02), Barry Bonds (1995-97), Ron Gant (¡®90-91), Bobby Bonds (¡®77-78) and Willie Mays (¡®56-57).
Witt¡¯s 200 hits in 2024 are the most by a primary shortstop (played at least 50% of games there) since Derek Jeter led the Majors with 216 hits in 2012. Witt entered Tuesday leading baseball in hits, average and runs (122), attempting to become the fifth player since 1900 to lead the Majors in all three categories, according to the Elias Sports Bureau (Nap Lajoie, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial and Rod Carew are the others).
¡°Any time you¡¯re doing something in the history of the game for the first time ever, on a positive note, is remarkable,¡± manager Matt Quatraro said. ¡°We say it all the time: You just can¡¯t take for granted that we get to see him play every single day.
¡°Now, I would guarantee you he would trade that 30-30 for a win tonight. And that¡¯s another reason he¡¯s so special.¡±