A day after departing Thursday night's game with right knee discomfort, Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. was not in the lineup for Friday's game against the Cardinals, with the team citing a Grade 1 MCL sprain.
Kansas City has an off-day on Saturday, and it will likely wait to see how Witt feels on Sunday to determine its next steps.
In the top of the fourth inning of Thursday's game vs. St. Louis, 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.
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.
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.