Bobby Witt Jr. Has Message About the Standard for Royals in 2027

After two straight falls without playoff baseball, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. is already setting the bar for the Kansas City Royals in 2027.

Witt was named the winner of the Heart and Hustle Award on Friday, and when he talked about the honor, he quickly turned to where he wants this team to go next.

The Royals finished the 2026 season at 69-93, last in the American League Central and 16 games behind the Guardians.

That came one year after an 82-80 finish that also ended without a playoff trip, which makes the 2024 run to the American League Division Series feel like a while ago.

Witt did his part, as he hit .281 with 18 home runs, 54 RBIs and 45 stolen bases in 143 games, and he finished with an .800 OPS on a team that lost far more games than it won.

He is a finalist for the AL MVP Award, which will be announced on Thursday, and he is also up for a Silver Slugger, with those winners coming on Nov. 17.

When he talked about the future, Witt went right to winning.

He said he wants to bring a championship back to Kansas City and get back in the playoffs, and then he set the standard for himself and the team, according to the MLB.com story on his award.

"Get back to where we should be, so now that’s the ultimate goal. That is the standard we have to set. I don’t want to be getting done before October ends," Witt said.

That is the right goal for a star to set, even after a 93-loss year, and MLB.com also noted that Witt wants to keep working on what he sees as a sixth tool, his mentality and his ability to stay strong in his mind over a long season.

Coming from a player who already does so much on the field, I see that as a good sign for the people around him.

Witt is 26 and signed with Kansas City through at least 2030, so he is going to be the center of this team for a long time, and now the front office has to build a roster that matches his goal.

The gap between the Royals and the best teams in baseball showed up all year, and that work starts with the GM Meetings in Las Vegas from Nov. 10-12.

I think Witt is right to raise the bar, and I would much rather hear the best player on the team say this plainly after a bad year than hear him talk around it, because it puts some healthy pressure on the people building the roster.

A team with a player who was named an AL MVP finalist should not be playing for next year by the middle of the summer.

Kansas City has to add pitching and more bats around him, because Witt cannot carry this team alone, no matter how high his ceiling goes.

If the Royals want to keep their best player happy and get back to October, this offseason has to look a lot different than the last one.