Royals are squandering the best Bobby Witt Jr. season we've ever seen

After finding a way to claw themselves back into the postseason picture following their winning week a few weeks ago, the Kansas City Royals are once again in the pits of despair with just three wins in their last 12 games and now sit eight games under .500. The finger of blame can be pointed in countless directions with numerous underperforming hitters and some rotation and bullpen pieces that haven't met the standards for a contending hopeful.

However, one name that can't be accused of not doing his part this season has been the Royals' franchise cornerstone Bobby Witt Jr. The shortstop extraordinaire has been a sight to behold not just for Kansas City this season, but in MLB as a whole.

Entering May 19th game action, Witt's .302 AVG ranks 14th in the league with an .861 OPS in the Top 30. On top of that he's well above average this season in terms of wRC+ at 137. Pair all of this with his shimmering defense at shortstop, where he's already accumulated nine DRS, nine FRV and a 12 OAA, and Witt now leads all of baseball in fWAR 3.1 - the only player over 3.0 fWAR so far this season.

Not only does he look back to his MVP form after a "down year" in 2025 - he was still an eight win player that year - but he looks even better than the last time he was in the running for the award back in 2024.

That season, Witt of course finished second the great Aaron Judge and his 58 HR, 144 RBI and 11.3 fWAR season. Witt however, was an impressive 10.5 fWAR player, with 32 HR, 109 RBI and a 169 wRC+, along with 30+ stolen base speed and that trademark shimmering defense.

When comparing the start of the season then and Witt's start to the 2026 season so far, there's plenty of reason to believe that Witt looks the best he ever has and is on pace for his best season of his big league career.

Could Bobby Witt Jr. finally win his long-awaited AL MVP award in 2026?

Statistically speaking, we've established that there's nobody in baseball like Bobby Witt Jr. right now. Leading the league in fWAR while displaying an all-around, five-tool game makes it hard to play devil's advocate.

However, the fact remains, the Royals are not catching the eyes of the baseball world right now at 20-28. While team success shouldn't have too much bearing on the MVP award, it's always going to play a factor in the modern game. And with a bottom third offense in all of baseball, there's not much support being given to Witt to further elevate his game.

He surely has to be the front-runner as things stand now. The issue is though, offense is king and there's numerous names near the top the fWAR leaderboards that are doing it better than Witt in 2026.

Shea Langeliers is having an out-of-body season with the AL West-leading Athletics this year and is the far superior hitter in 2026 to Witt, with a .335/.396/.601 slash line and 174 wRC+. Then names like Judge and Yordan Alvarez are also making things interesting at the dish this season with 171 wRC+ and 189 wRC+ totals respectively.

His all-around game is unmatched, but unfortunately there are other names that have strictly hit better than Witt so far this season. Not to mention, each of those three names are currently playing for teams well within the postseason hunt, while the Royals dwell near the bottom of the American League. Not to many eyes are focused down there.

Regardless of how you slice and dice it though, this is a special season we're witnessing from Witt and there's no denying that the Royals are wasting their franchise cornerstone's incredible effort and potentially costing him his long-awaited MVP award.

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