The Kansas City Royals had an active offseason and have put together a much stronger team in 2026. Lane Thomas, Matt Strahm, Nick Mears and Isaac Collins were added over the winter.
Still, the lineup centers around star shortstop and former MVP candidate Bobby Witt Jr., who typically hits in the middle of the lineup for Kansas City. He will soon leave spring camp to join Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, and he’ll likely be hitting leadoff, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com.
However, Rogers reveals that this might not be limited to just the WBC and that it’s something that could happen again in the future.
Royals experimenting with Bobby Witt Jr.’s lineup spot
“Bobby Witt Jr. is hitting leadoff today. Manager Matt Quatraro said he’s “pretty sure” Witt is going to hit leadoff for Team USA, so he wanted to let Witt get used to it before he leaves. Also gives the Royals an idea of what it could look like if they do it in the regular season,” Rogers posted on X.
This is certainly an interesting experiment to watch. Witt is typically hitting in the middle of the lineup, but if he’s going to hit leadoff for Team USA, it makes sense to give him some reps at that spot.
It’s also an interesting idea for him to be doing it during the regular season, and it makes sense to try new things. The Royals have more depth in their lineup entering the 2026 season than they did in 2025. With Thomas and Collins now on the roster and likely starting every day, they have a little more flexibility.
Having Witt at the top of the order is a way to potentially generate some more offense this season and have a little power in the leadoff spot. Witt can also create havoc on the basepaths when he reaches, so there is some merit to having that presence at the top of the lineup.
It will be interesting to see what the Royals decide to do, but this would give the lineup a different look and could lead to them scoring some more runs in 2026.
The offense let them down last year and caused them to miss the playoffs, but a different look could make a huge difference for a team trying to make it back to October in 2026. We’ll see if this sticks.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.si.com ’
