What is Bobby Whitt Jr.’s contract with the Royals? Duration, base salary and signing bonus
As arguably the best young player the Royals have seen in many years, it’s no surprise that Bobby Witt Jr. received a huge deal, but how much is he making?
In his first season in MLB, the Kansas City Royals talent hit 20 home runs and stole 30 bases which is to say, it was clear from the get go that Bobby Witt Jr. was special. From there the shortstop has only increased in production, finishing 7th in MVP voting last year and by the looks of it, he’s just getting started.
What does Bobby Witt Jr’s contract look like?
Despite his young age, it’s already clear that Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. is among the elite players in MLB today. To that end, it should come as no surprise that the 24-year-old is now being paid accordingly. Back in February 2024, Witt put pen to paper on an enormous 11-year, $288,777,777 contract with the Kansas City Royals that included a $7,777,777 signing bonus.
Now, as they say, the devil is in the details. Witt’s contract has $288,777,777 guaranteed and an average salary of $26,252,525 as well as opt-outs for years seven, eight, nine, and ten. Should he decline to do so and make it all the way to year 11, the Royals have a three-year, $89 million team option in place which means the value of his contract could then rise to more than $377 million, while tying him to the Royals through the 2037 season. We imagine Royals fans are quite happy with that prospect.
It would be fair to say that Witt has essentially secured his future both on and off the field with a deal that places him among the highest earners in the league. What’s even more impressive is that the structure of it allows for him to secure another long-term contract after the season in which he turns 30. In case it wasn’t clear, that is not a common thing to see pre-arbitration. Yet, one could also argue that neither is the level of talent that Witt is working with.
“When you’re as talented as he is,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said, “the finances will take care of themselves. But he was talking about the culture of winning. That really resonated with John and me, and was probably the driving factor when we got to the finish line that we had done some things that showed we wanted to win.”