Bobby Witt Jr. joins rare company — again — as impressive season continues

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - In a season where the hope of relevancy in the American League Central standings was wiped out weeks after it began, it’s difficult for Royals fans not to be optimistic about their budding superstar.

Remember when sophomore slumps were a thing? Don’t tell Bobby Witt Jr.

The young shortstop phenom blasted his 25th home run on the season in a 6-4 loss at Oakland on Monday night.

With the long ball, Witt became just the fifth shortstop in Major League Baseball history with at least 25 homers and 35 steals. He joins Barry Larkin (1996), Alex Rodriguez (1998), Jimmy Rollins (2006-07) and Hanley Ramirez (2007-08) as the only others to do so, according to MLB Network.

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He is also just one of seven players in the history of the game to accomplish that feat at 23 years old or younger.

Witt leads the team in:

• Home runs - 25
• RBI - 80
• Hits - 142
• Runs - 72
• Triples - 7
• Stolen bases - 37
• Slugging pct. - .504
• OPS - .824
• Games played - 124
• At-bats - 506

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