KANSAS CITY – Bobby Witt Jr. exited Thursday’s game against the Cardinals in the fourth inning with right knee discomfort, the Royals announced, and he was having imaging done postgame to determine what exactly the injury is and the severity. The Royals expect to know more on Friday.
In the top of the fourth, Witt went down hard while fielding a single, sliding to his left on his knees in the grass. He made a stop on the ball but was unable to get a throw off as he rolled onto the grass in pain. He stayed in the game after head athletic trainer Kyle Turner and manager Matt Quatraro went out to check on him, but Witt was still grimacing and rubbing his knee even as the Royals jogged into the dugout after the third out.
Witt shook his head as he entered the dugout and went down into the tunnel with the training staff.
“The fact that he stayed in at first was a little bit encouraging, and then watching him come off the field, it was pretty obvious he was going to have to come out,” Quatraro said.
Due up first in the bottom of the fourth inning, it was not Witt but Tyler Tolbert who stepped to the plate. Witt had already homered and singled in his first two at-bats Thursday night.
Witt has already been managing some right knee soreness this month, but Quatraro said he didn’t know if Thursday’s was the same injury or a different one. Witt exited the Royals’ game on June 7 early with right knee soreness but was back in the lineup two days later after a team off-day. He’s played every game since. Witt has started all 76 games this season for the Royals, and all of them have been at shortstop.
The Royals are banged up right now, with 10 players currently on the injured list. That includes first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, who fractured his right hamate bone and is out until late July. Third baseman Maikel Garcia hasn’t played the last two games with left hand soreness and is hoping to avoid an IL stint, but how he improves in the next few days will determine that.
Not under any circumstances do the Royals want to add their superstar Witt to that list. With a .294/.368/.465 slash line, 10 homers and 28 stolen bases, Witt is tracking toward his third All-Star appearance this year and has a good chance at the starting nod at shortstop.
“I don’t know if it would matter if it was the only injury or a ton of them,” Quatraro said. “When Bobby goes down, that’s really concerning.”
