Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. has established himself as one of MLB’s best players over the last few seasons. The two-time All-MLB First Teamer sports a .290/.340/.504 slash line with 105 homers, 373 RBIs, and 148 stolen bases over 626 career games.
That’s why Witt is on the United States’ World Baseball Classic (WBC) roster alongside fellow superstars like outfielder Aaron Judge, catcher Cal Raleigh, designated hitter Kyle Schwarber, and 2025 Cy Young Award-winning pitchers Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal, per usabaseball.com.
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This will be Witt’s second time playing in the WBC, as he also competed for the United States in 2023. However, the native Texan is a different player nowadays.
Witt was coming off his rookie season with the Royals in 2023 and went just 1-for-2 as a bench player in that year’s competition. The speedster pinch-ran in the ninth inning of the final against Japan, but was forced out at second on a double play before Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout to seal the loss for the U.S.
Now, Witt will likely be the starting shortstop, per MLB.com. How well the 25-year-old performs in that role will help shape his legacy.
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Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (7). © William Purnell-Imagn Images
The WBC has only been around since 2006 and occurs every three years. Therefore, many of baseball’s best players throughout history never had the chance to compete in a global competition on that level. For example, many of the stars never played in Olympic baseball before it was discontinued after 2008.
If Witt stands out among the U.S. stars and leads the squad to a title after its 2023 loss, that would give him an unusual advantage in legacy debates. The two-time All-Star will likely be a Hall of Famer anyway if he maintains his current pace, but he could have certain bragging rights that MLB’s best shortstops before him don’t.
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Additionally, WBC success would help Witt make up for any disappointing seasons by the Royals. They’ve only made the playoffs once in his career thus far, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll win any rings moving forward given the competitive landscape. While they’ve been aggressive this offseason with moves like extending Maikel Garcia and trading for outfielder Isaac Collins (.779 OPS in 2025), he’ll never be on as talented a team as the U.S. national squad.
The same can be said for every U.S. player on the roster, but players like Judge, Schwarber, and Raleigh have experienced deeper playoff runs. Until Witt does the same with Kansas City, a WBC hot streak would separate him from his peers.