Royals’ recent surge is bringing out the MVP Bobby Witt Jr. fans have been waiting for

For the better part of April, Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. was doing everything right and getting almost nothing to show for it. He was reaching base. He was running. He was putting together quality at-bats night after night. And yet, through the first 16 games of 2026, he had scored exactly once, stranded 29 of the 30 times he reached base, caught in a lineup that couldn't cash him in. The home runs weren't coming. The wins weren't either. Kansas City stumbled into an eight-game losing streak, and the face of the franchise was quietly enduring one of the most frustrating stretches of his young career.

Then Sunday happened. Then Tuesday happened. Now the Royals have won five of their last seven, including being only a night removed from a season-best four straight, and Bobby Witt Jr. is starting to look a lot like the MVP candidate his fans have been waiting on.

Bobby Witt Jr.'s power has finally returned for the Royals

The power was always there, but the box score wasn't showing it. Witt's hard-hit rate in 2026 sits at a career-high 52.6%, and his .390 expected wOBA had been outpacing his actual production for weeks. Manager Matt Quatraro wasn't worried.

"Bobby's going to hit homers," he said before Sunday's game. "It's not a question of if; it's when." Turns out, the answer was: right now.

Witt snapped a career-high 34-game homerless drought on Sunday against the Los Angeles Angels, driving a changeup 427 feet to left-center for a two-run shot. It was his 300th career extra-base hit, punctuated by a triple earlier in the game, his ninth career game with both a triple and a home run, matching Hal McRae for second in Royals history behind only George Brett.

Two days later in Sacramento, he did it again. With the score tied 1-1 in the tenth and the Royals needing a moment, Witt delivered a go-ahead three-run homer to right-center off Athletics pitcher Justin Sterner, his second homer in as many games and his second career extra-inning home run, following a walk-off grand slam in July 2023. The Royals won 4-1 and stretched their winning streak to four.

Witt has now hit safely in 10 straight games, batting .357 with seven extra-base hits and a 1.047 OPS over that span. He has swiped 10 bags on the season, tied for fifth in MLB. Tuesday also marked his 18th career game with both a home run and a stolen base, third most in the majors since his 2022 debut, behind only Shohei Ohtani and Francisco Lindor, and third in franchise history behind Carlos Beltrán and Amos Otis.

The early-season version of Witt felt like a riddle with no answer: an undeniably elite player producing nothing to show for it. This version feels different. Witt said it plainly after Tuesday's win: "We're gonna show up to the field expecting to win. That's our mindset and that's the way we are going to prepare every day."

At 12-18, the Royals still have a lot of ground to make up. But when Witt is deciding games, this team is a different animal. The question was never whether he'd break out. It was just a matter of when, and when appears to be right now.

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