Last Friday in Cincinnati, Bobby Witt Jr. stepped out of the box to gather himself after fouling a pitch off. He took a deep breath, found a focal point on his bat upon which to fixate his gaze, stepped back in and sent the next pitch he saw 430 feet into the second deck at Great American Ball Park.
While there are certain constants that have helped Witt handle the mental and physical rigors of a season, in some ways this version of the Kansas City Royals superstar is brand new.
After tantalizing with his potential as a 22-year-old, he followed up a 20-homer, 30-steal rookie season by transforming himself from one of the worst defensive shortstops to one of the best while posting the first ever 30-homer, 30-steal season in Royals history last season. Entering 2024, there wasn't one specific part of his game he wanted to fix.
Rather, he thought he could enhance every aspect.
And then he did.
"I'm trying to get better at all the things I'm not good at, but I think if you keep getting better as a whole, it'll get you better in all of them," Witt said "The reality, the more you play, the better you get. The more you're around this game, the better you get. That's what I'm trying to learn every day and enjoy, but also know where I'm at."
Witt has made the leap into the upper echelon of the sport's talents. By FanGraphs' wins above replacement, he has been baseball's most valuable player both this year and since the start of last season.
The MVP contender's game has grown to the point that the 24-year-old could make a strong argument that he's the best all-around position player in baseball — not that he would ever promote himself that way.
"There's an awesome book called 'Ego is the Enemy' by Ryan Holiday, and that book
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