Even in a slump, this KC Royals superstar can look great

He owns the biggest contract the KC Royals have ever given any player. Unless something unfortunate happens, he exercises one of his contract opt-outs, or he leaves the Royals via some other avenue, he stands an excellent chance of surpassing the great George Brett as the best player Kansas City has ever produced.

Recent weeks, though, haven't been the rosiest of his short major league career. At a time when his club needs him at his best and anything much less than that could imperil its chances to play postseason ball for the first time since they won the 2015 World Series, Witt is slumping.

Yes, even Witt, who fans for every good reason love to refer to as Bobby Baseball, is capable of a funk. He is, after all, and despite what some may think, human.

The numbers heading into Monday's opening game of KC's current three-game series with Detroit tell the present tale. Before his first at-bat, Witt's line for his last 18 games was .219/.275/.452; his first-inning ground out dropped the average component of that near-shocking (for Witt) line to .216.

But then he did the kind of thing he forces everyone to expect. Facing Detroit starter Reese Olson with the bases loaded in the third inning of a then-scoreless game, he hammered a too-tempting curveball over the left field wall for the fourth grand slam of his three-year career; later, he drove in another run to give him five RBI for the night.

It was all in a losing cause, however — the Royals went down 7-6, with one of the Tiger runs scoring as a direct result of Witt's fifth-inning throwing error. The mistake didn't cause the defeat, but it certainly didn't help.

So it is that Witt, who remains in the American League MVP conversation, has cooled a bit. Still, he's giving the Royals and their fans plenty of Witt-like moments.

Bobby Witt Jr. continues his march toward a stellar individual season

Somewhat overshadowed by his big Monday grand slam was the milestone Witt reached a couple of innings later when he singled in Kyle Isbel to give the Royals a two-run lead they subsequently squandered. The hit gave Witt 200 for the season, made him only the eighth Royal ever to collect that many in one year, and increased his major league lead in the category to six over San Diego's Luis Arráez. Yankee Aaron Judge, Witt's stiffest competition for AL MVP, has 169.

The single also handed Witt a 2-for-4 night and boosted his big league-leading average to .332, nine points better than Arráez's .323.

And those five runs he drove in? He now has 108 RBI, good for a third-place major league tie with the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani.

We wrote recently about milestones several Royals, including Witt, could reach and pass before this regular season concludes Sept. 29 in Atlanta. Witt has only one we mentioned left to achieve, and he inched closer to getting there Monday when he stole his 29th base of the campaign, leaving him one short of 30 and, combined with his career-high 32 homers, one short of becoming the first big leaguer to enjoy 30-30 years in two of his first three seasons.

There's more.

Witt's 122 runs lead the majors and, counting the one he scored at Kauffman Stadium Monday night, include the nine he's scored during his 18-game slump. And his chilly hitting during that time hasn't caused manager Matt Quatraro to bench him even for a game, which means he's played in all the club's contests and more games than any other major leaguer this season.

The bottom line? He may be in one of the only slumps of his short career, but Witt is still managing to put up important numbers.

And after his fine Monday evening at the plate, he just might be ready to break out of that slump.

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