ESPN bafflingly calls Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. a disappointment this season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Kansas City Royals are one of the biggest disappointments as a team this season in Major League Baseball. They're sitting at the bottom of the standings in the AL with an 11-17 record, barely ahead of the 11-18 Houston Astros.
But, overall, it's undeniable that the season has been a major disappointment. However, not all the players on the roster have been disappointing.
And yet, ESPN's David Schoenfield named Bobby Witt Jr. among the biggest disappointments at the shortstop position this season, despite getting off to a solid start this season.
"Disappointment: Take your pick. It has been a strange year for star shortstops," Schoenfield writes. "... Bobby Witt Jr. has been hitting fr average and getting on base, but just hit his first home run of the season Sunday."
Witt hasn't been playing at an MVP level as he has before, as his .790 OPS compared to the .852 OPS last year and .977 OPS the year before are a lot better than his offensive production this season.
But, Witt still has been one of the better players in the sport, and has a 1.6 bWAR through the first 28 games of the season.
Even though his power is lagging, with just one home run on the season, he's still hitting for average, playing great defense, and has posted nine stolen bases on the year.
More: Shohei Ohtani deemed more valuable than Aaron Judge in recent ESPN discussion piece
Labeling him as one of the biggest disappointments at the shortstop position this year is a baffling claim to make. Sure, he's not been at his best version of himself, but he's not a disappointment.
Witt is still a very valuable player, and the Royals would be a whole lot worse had he not been a part of the roster.
He might not win MVP this season, and compared to preseason expectations, this might be a little underwhelming. But what Witt has done is not close to being among the biggest disappointments in MLB this season at shortstop at all.
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