Royals Land Just One Representative On Insider's MLB 'April All-Star Team'
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The Kansas City Royals are not doing well when it comes to beating the allegations that they're a one-man show.
So far this season, Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. has 1.9 bWAR, which was to be expected after he put up a ridiculous 9.4 mark last season. But the rest of the Royals' position players combined? They've been worth -1.6.
Kansas City is a team built on starting pitching and Witt. Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez aren't playing their supporting roles on offense nearly as well as they did last year. In fact, the Royals' second-most valuable position player this year is outfielder Drew Waters, who spent the first two weeks of the season in Triple-A.
Witt just keeps on rolling, though, and on Thursday, he earned some recognition. Insider Jim Bowden of The Athletic named him as the starting shortstop on his American League "April All-Star Team."
"There’s no debate at shortstop in the AL as Witt is batting .322/.388/.475 (144 OPS+) with 19 runs and nine stolen bases," Bowden wrote.
"He ranks in the 95th percentile in outs above average (defensive range) and the 100th percentile in sprint speed. A star on both sides of the ball, Witt is in the 92nd percentile in both batting run value and fielding run value."
Witt, 24, has hit only two home runs to this point, so there's still room for him to keep improving on offense as the year rolls on. But he's also leading the majors with 12 doubles, so it's not as though Royals fans have much to complain about.
The real story is the rest of this team. Will they have any other representatives at the Midsummer Classic in Atlanta? And more importantly, can they find enough supporting cast members to get them back to the playoffs for the second year in a row?
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org
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