{"id":683058,"date":"2026-04-26T05:51:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T05:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/683058\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T05:51:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T05:51:19","slug":"bobby-witt-jr-robs-mike-trout-with-stellar-defensive-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/683058\/","title":{"rendered":"Bobby Witt Jr. robs Mike Trout with stellar defensive play"},"content":{"rendered":"

The baseball world is getting a glimpse of both the present and future this weekend as the Kansas City Royals play host to the Los Angeles Angels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Angels slugger Mike Trout and Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. have been sharing the spotlight during their teams\u2019 three-game series at Kauffman Stadium. Trout is one of the biggest names in the sport, while Witt is still coming into his own mega-stardom.<\/p>\n

So Royals fans in attendance are getting a treat, and that was certainly true Saturday night. In the third inning, Witt and Trout were involved in a stellar defensive play.<\/p>\n

Trout, a 34-year-old veteran of 16 seasons, laced a line drive up the middle. It looked like a surefire base hit, but Witt ranged over to his left, corralled the baseball and made the play<\/a>, spinning around to catch the 11-time All-Star at first base.<\/p>\n

It was yet another highlight for Witt, 25, the 2025 American League Platinum Glove recipient<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The play also caught the attention of Witt\u2019s Royals teammates and coaching staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one we haven\u2019t seen him make that much, with the spin and everything,\u201d manager Matt Quatraro said. \u201cAnd to know that he didn\u2019t have time to really fire the ball and just get an accurate one-hopper was really impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Witt is a two-time Gold Glove winner at shortstop. He\u2019s made some terrific catches drifting back into left field.<\/p>\n

But Saturday\u2019s put-out was just as special.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, he\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d Royals third baseman Nick Loftin said. \u201cHe makes those plays and that\u2019s routine for him. So it\u2019s no surprise every time I see him do it, even though it\u2019s truly spectacular for a lot of people that are watching at home. I see it on a daily basis and it\u2019s just become routine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Witt\u2019s numbers are often compared to Trout\u2019s<\/a>. They both experienced breakout campaigns early in their major-league careers.<\/p>\n

The Royals certainly hope Witt\u2019s career turns out similarly to how Trout\u2019s has played out. They\u2019re two five-tool players widely considered among the faces of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s special,\u201d Loftin said of Witt. \u201cAnd seeing those plays, he makes it easy for our pitchers. And he is a staple for our defense out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Kansas City Star<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Jaylon Thompson<\/a><\/p>\n

The Kansas City Star<\/p>\n

Jaylon Thompson covers the Royals for The Kansas City Star. He previously covered the 2021 World Series and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jaylon is a proud alumnus of the University of Georgia.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The baseball world is getting a glimpse of both the present and future this weekend as the Kansas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2387],"tags":[5,936,2123,55,2596,2595,4,252],"class_list":{"0":"post-683058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-royals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-kansas","10":"tag-kansas-city","11":"tag-kansas-city-royals","12":"tag-kansascity","13":"tag-kansascityroyals","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116469451529677630","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}