Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. Decision Comes With Unexpected News

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Gavin Groe | Last updated Sep 9, 2025 6:24 PM ET

The Kansas City Royals (73–71) have lost two consecutive games and with a three-game deficit in the AL wild card race, the organization has little margin for error if they want to make back-to-back postseason appearances.

Unfortunately, the Royals have been playing without their superstar shortstop over the past week as Bobby Witt Jr. has not appeared in game action since last Friday after exiting a game against the Minnesota Twins with back spasms.

Witt has once again carried the Royals into relevancy in 2025 with an outstanding year all-around, one of the most complete players in MLB. The 25-year-old has posted a .294 batting average, .352 on-base percentage, .855 OPS, 21 home runs and 34 stolen bases across 139 appearances.

Witt had continued to participate in baseball activities and expressed confidence that he would avoid an injured list stint after continuing to progress on Monday. Before Tuesday’s game against the Cleveland Guardians, the Royals manager Matt Quatraro decided to reinsert Witt into the lineup after missing just three games.

However, with Witt’s reinsertion came unfortunate and unexpected news. Kansas City’s starting pitcher for Wednesday, Michael Wacha, had suffered a concussion due to a minor off-field accident and would be headed back to Kansas City to be reevaluated by team doctors after being placed on the 7-day concussion list. ( h/t Jaylon T. Thompson of The Kansas City Star)

We have made the following roster moves: pic.twitter.com/zJoUBczyMq
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) September 9, 2025

Adding Witt back to the lineup will without doubt strengthen the team’s playoff hopes, but Wacha’s unavailability is a huge blow to the Royals’ starting rotation that already is missing ace Cole Ragans.

Wacha has continued to provide Kansas City with reliable starting pitching in his second season with the franchise, posting a 3.45 ERA, and while he has not struck out many batters (just 117 strikeouts in 159 innings), the 33-year-old veteran has excelled at limiting hard contact. The Royals have not announced a starter for Wednesday’s game in Wacha’s place at this time and Wacha’s status will be monitored.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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