Royals place Bobby Witt Jr. on injured list: Instant analysis and reaction

At 42-60, the Royals have the second-worst record in the American League and the third-worst in Major League Baseball overall. They were going to head into the upcoming trade deadline as sellers anyhow, but losing Witt even for a short spell only reinforces that. The 26-year-old All-Star hasn’t had his best season at the plate, but it’s only a “down” year relative to his through-the-roof standards. Witt is slashing .279/.350/.450 with 13 home runs. He’s already stolen 30 bases (in 35 attempts) and is playing his customary brand of elite shortstop defense. Both FanGraphs and peg him at nearly five wins above replacement already this season.

The Royals haven’t provided a timetable for Witt’s recovery, but even a brief absence will throw a wrench into a potential MVP case. Witt leads the American League in WAR at the moment, which will have him squarely in the MVP running despite playing for a last-place club. A 10-day absence might be surmountable, but if he misses even a few weeks, that’ll give him some serious ground to make up on other candidates (e.g. Yordan Alvarez, Dillon Dingler, Junior Caminero).

With Witt sidelined, shortstop will be turned over to a committee including Tyler Tolbert, Nick Loftin, Josh Rojas and the newly selected Velazquez. The first three have all at least briefly played shortstop for Kansas City already. Velazquez has 1500 major league innings at the position.

The 32-year-old Velazquez hasn’t appeared in the majors since a 2022-23 stint with the Angels. He’s played in 275 big league games, taken 624 turns at the plate and posted an anemic .189/.244/.293 batting line in that time. Velazquez runs well and is a strong infield defender, but the bat obviously leaves plenty to be desired. He’s hitting a combined .270/.333/.370 in 230 plate appearances between the Triple-A affiliates for Arizona and Kansas City this season.

Kolek’s move to the 60-day IL doesn’t come as a major surprise, given the nature of his injury. Manager Matt Quatraro said at the time of his original placement on the IL that Kolek was headed for imaging to determine the severity of the issue. That testing has been performed now, but the team has yet to provide a formal update. Even without a formal update, today’s move all but ends Kolek’s season. He’ll be sidelined into mid-September at the very least, and it’s common for flexor strains to require surgery that comes with a much longer recovery period.

In 10 starts with the Royals this season, Kolek logged 54 innings with a 4.50 ERA. He fanned a bottom-of-the-scale 15.2% of his opponents but also showed outstanding command, issuing walks at just a 5.4% clip. In 213 1/3 major league innings between San Diego and Kansas City, Kolek has a 4.13 ERA. He’s bounced between the bullpen and the rotation in the majors. If he’s able to avoid surgery and return healthy in 2027, he’ll be a depth option at the back of the rotation or in the ‘pen. The Royals can control Kolek — whom they acquired from the Padres in last summer’s Freddy Fermin trade — through the 2030 season.