Royals select shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. in first round of First-Year Player Draft

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (June 3, 2019) – The Kansas City Royals have selected Bobby Witt Jr., a shortstop from Colleyville Heritage High School (Texas), with the second overall pick in the 2019 First-Year Player Draft. Witt Jr. is the third player chosen second overall in Royals history, joining Alex Gordon (2005) and Mike Moustakas (2007).

He is the son of right-handed pitcher Bobby Witt, who played 16 seasons with seven different teams in the Majors from 1986-2001, and was the third overall pick by Texas in the 1985 Draft. The Witts are the ninth father-son duo selected in the first round and the first to be selected within the first three picks. They pass Tom Grieve (6th overall in 1968) and Ben Grieve (2nd overall in 1994) as the highest-drafted father-son duo.

Witt Jr. hit .500 (63-for-126) this season with 37 extra-base hits in 38 games, including 15 home runs and 44 RBI, recording a .575 on-base pct. and 1.095 slugging pct. He also had eight triples and 16 stolen bases. Last Wednesday, he was named the Gatorade National High School Baseball Player of the year, which recognizes the most elite high school student-athlete in the country. Witt Jr. graduated from high school the following day, and will turn 19 years old on June 14. He is committed to play baseball at the University of Oklahoma.

Witt Jr. is the sixth high school player to be selected with the Royals’ first pick in the first round since 2007, Dayton Moore’s first full season in Kansas City as Senior VP of Baseball Operations/General Manager. He joins Mike Moustakas (2007) Eric Hosmer (2008), Bubba Starling (2011), Ashe Russell (2015) and Nick Pratto (2017).

The Royals have two picks remaining tonight: Nos. 44 and 70 overall.