Insane Royals stat sums up painfully glaring gap between Bobby Witt Jr. and rest of roster

The Kansas City Royals are limping to the end of May having gone 5-15 in their last 20 games and sitting third last in the American League with a 22-34 record. In every facet of their roster this season, there's holes to be poked and critiques to be made. However, what has been virtually flawless this season has been Bobby Witt Jr.'s individual performance. The franchise cornerstone is crafting arguably the best season we've seen from him and is currently at the center of the AL MVP conversation.

However, in typical 2026 Royals fashion, they truly can't have nice things, as while Witt is thriving, the rest of the roster is lagging behind. As Baseball Prospectus co-founder Rany Jazayerli pointed out ahead of Kansas City's shutout loss to the Yankees on Wednesday, Witt's bWAR outpaces the entirety of the rest of the Royals positional roster and is just narrowly shy of matching the combined bWAR of the entire pitching staff.

Since that loss though the gap has only widened. While Witt may've dropped down to a 3.4 bWAR since then, the rest of the lineup dropped to as a result of the shutout too, now sitting to a 2.9. And this includes the 0.5 bWAR from the recently DFA'd Elias Díaz as well. Then, the pitching staff, excluding Tyler Tolbert's abnormal appearances on the mound, now holds just a 3.6 bWAR, so only 0.2 points above Witt's individual mark.

Do the Royals have any other "WAR merchants" on their 2026 roster this season?

To answer this question, not exactly. Sticking with the the bWAR stat, Witt trails only Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages this season who's posted a 3.7 mark. And looking elsewhere, in terms of fWAR, Witt's identical 3.4 mark is 0.6 points above both Pages and Yordan Alvarez in second. So not many if anyone in baseball is quite as valuable as him, let alone anyone on the Royals.

There are, however, a few names that stand out as ones doing their best to uplift this Royals squad. Veteran starting pitchers Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo have been what's held this rotation together through underperformance and injury. Wacha leads the pitching staff with a 2.1 bWAR, while Lugo's more modest looking 1.1 mark places him second. However, from a league leaders perspective, both fall short of the 2.3 needed to crack the Top 10 like Witt comfortably has in the positional rankings.

From a relief standpoint, Daniel Lynch IV has been the real standout arm in this bullpen with his 0.7 bWAR pailing in comparison to most and even exceeding every starter minus Wacha and Lugo.

The issue lies in the lineup though, as apart from Garcia's 1.5 bWAR to start the season, the next highest mark belongs to Jac Caglianone with a 0.6 clip and then the aforementioned 40-man subtraction in Díaz who's 0.5 bWAR is sitting in Triple-A Omaha at the moment. And when it comes to Garcia, his defense is doing a lot of the leg work to keep him a above a full win, because his .263 AVG, .702 OPS and 95 wRC+ are nothing inspiring.

If the Royals want any chance of not just competing, but looking like a legitimate major league roster, these sort of stats simply can't exist. Witt is only one man and with a generational talent like him, the Royals can't afford to squander that type of competitive gift.

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