The Royals star exited Thursday's game in the fourth inning with right knee discomfort.
The reaction inside Kauffman Stadium on Thursday night said plenty before any MRI results ever arrived.
Bobby Witt Jr. stayed in the game briefly after injuring his right knee on a sliding stop in the fourth inning against the Cardinals, but the concern was obvious. He grimaced while walking off the field, rubbed at the knee between innings and eventually headed down the tunnel with the training staff.
For a Kansas City Royals team that has watched its injured list grow throughout the season, it looked like the beginning of another difficult conversation.
Less than 24 hours later, Kansas City received the outcome it was hoping for.
“It’s not a surgical thing," said Royals Manager Matt Quatraro, via MLB.com's Anne Rogers. "It’s going to be a lot of get the swelling out of there and understand how he feels. And those conversations are going to have to be honest between all of us.”
Quatraro still described the diagnosis as the "best case scenario" and said the organization remains optimistic about Witt's status moving forward, according to Apple TV's Tricia Whitaker.
That optimism was noticeably absent immediately after Thursday's game, largely because nobody yet knew what the Royals were dealing with.
"The fact that he stayed in at first was a little bit encouraging," Quatraro said, via Rogers. "And then watching him come off the field, it was pretty obvious he was going to have to come out."
Kansas City entered the week already navigating injuries to several key contributors. Vinnie Pasquantino remains sidelined. Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic are unavailable. Seth Lugo recently landed on the concussion injured list. Maikel Garcia has also missed time this week while dealing with hand soreness.
"I don't know if it would matter if it was the only injury or a ton of them," Quatraro said, via Rogers. "When Bobby goes down, that's really concerning."
Adding Witt to that list would have created an entirely different level of concern. Not only because of his production, but because there simply is no replacing what he provides on a daily basis.
Witt had already homered and singled before leaving Thursday's game. Through 76 starts this season, all at shortstop, he has posted a .294/.368/.465 slash line while positioning himself for another All-Star selection.
More importantly, he has remained one of the few constants in a season where Kansas City has rarely enjoyed much stability.
The Royals are expected to evaluate how he feels Sunday, according to Whitaker. For now, the most important development is that the organization avoided the scenario it feared most when its franchise cornerstone stayed on the ground Thursday night.
