The extension for Bobby Witt Jr. shows that small-market teams may and ought to undertake big moves.

The extension for Bobby Witt Jr. shows that small-market teams may and ought to undertake big moves.

Patrick Mahomes, quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, is no longer the only professional sport in Western Missouri alongside a huge contract involving hundreds of millions of dollars. On Monday, Bobby Witt Jr. signed a huge contract extension.

Friends and family in Kansas City were thrilled to hear about Witt’s new deal this afternoon. The star shortstop will now stay with the Royals for at least the next ten years.

More recently, Christian Yelich ($210 million) of the Brewers, Giancarlo Stanton ($325 million) of the Marlins, Joey Votto ($225 million) of the Reds, and Joe Mauer ($184 million) of the Twins are all examples.

There will always be contracts that work out far better than others. None of these things mean that the worry about the difference in baseball salaries is too big.

Some baseball fans say that “NFL teams may maintain their stars as well as baseball teams can’t,” but that’s not quite right.

In a sport not have a salary cap and where teams get most of their money from local fans rather than national ones, Witt is now the Royals’ Patrick Mahomes.

Another player the Royals have signed is catcher Sal Perez to a $82 million deal. This offseason, they spent a total of $109.5 million on seven outsiders.

A small part of the Royals is owned by Mahomes, and he was one of the first people on social media to respond to Witt’s signing.

Even though Mahomes, the current MVP quarterback, may not be paying for Witt’s deal, his huge 10-year, $450 million deal set the standard for spending a lot of money back in 2020.

Mahomes or Witt are now the faces of Kansas City’s major sports teams. They may be one of the best star-studded teams in one market.

ESPN said that Bobby Witt Jr. and the Royals agreed to a $288.7 million, 11-year extension. This could keep him in Kansas City until the finish of the 2037 season.

Ken Rosenthal reported that a three-year club choice could make his contract worth a total of $377.7 million over fourteen years.

Witt is now one of the best shortstops in baseball. He became a great player in 2022. Witt, who is 23 years old, hit 30 home runs and stole 49 bases last year, making him the first person in Royals history to do so.

He finished fourth in the voting for American League Rookie Person of the Year in 2022. The only other shortstop in the American League over the age of Witt who had done so was Alex Rodriguez in 1998.

Witt’s big year, in which he hit 20 home runs and stole 30 bases, came after he had already won seven AL MVP awards the previous year.

In the history of the major leagues, no player has hit 50 home runs or stolen 79 bases in both of his rookie seasons.

Even though that’s not the same thing as saying the Brewers are ready to trade, Ken Roberts of The Athletic as well as Mark Feinsand of both say that Williams could also be moved.

Rosenthal writes that the Brewers have in fact “thought about” moving the major league star right-hander.

Williams, who is 29 years old, is one of the best relievers in the game. In the last four years, he has had an amazing 1.75 ERA and has struck out 40.5% for his opponents.

Williams’s walk rate of 11.9% is much higher than the league average. However, his amazing strikeout rate of 49.5%, ability to get batters to hit weak balls, and ability to make them miss have all helped him make up for his shaky command.

Williams has been great, but he’s not the typical power-armed closer that we see a lot in today’s game.

That doesn’t mean he’s a soft-tosser, yet he doesn’t throw the triple-digit heater that’s becoming more common in baseball these days either.

Williams’ fastball averaged 94.2 mph in 2023, which was the same as the league average for relievers. It has been at 94.8 mph since 2020.

Williams does have one of the best skills in the game, though. It’s an 80-grade changeup that people call the “Airbender.”

About 23.1% of all the changeups Williams has thrown to his career have led to a swinging strike. Throughout his career, opponents have hit just 137 and slugged just.199 off of him.