Bobby Witt Jr. on signing extension with Royals: 'I want to be homegrown and I want to win with this team'

After the Royals’ disappointing 2023 season, a campaign that saw them win just 56 games, Bobby Witt Jr. made two things clear to the team. He wanted to be in Kansas City, and he also wanted to win.

Suffice it to say the team has done what it could this offseason to make both of those things happen.

The Royals capped off what’s been an active offseason by extending the star shortstop. The deal has 11 years, $288.7 million guaranteed, but could run for as many as 14 years with club options tacked onto the deal.

Earlier in the winter, Kansas City started building up its roster in what is a fairly wide-open American League Central. They added Hunter Renfroe, Michael Wacha, Will Smith and Chris Stratton in free agency, moves that to the outside world seemed like a bit of a surprise.

But Witt Jr. said Wednesday in an exclusive interview with Cody & Gold that he and the team were aligned that steps needed to be taken to ensure winning would be in reach.

“I just kept going on and on about how much I want to win, and that’s what I want to do and I want to do it here in Kansas City,” Witt Jr. said. “Having conversations with J.J. (Picollo), (owner John) Sherman, and with the team too as well of what do we need to do, what’s the next step we need to take? Did that at the end of the year, they took that into the offseason and you see what they did with signing players. At that point it’s like I want to be here, we want to win, and I want to win here.”

Even with the additions this offseason, the Royals have been in a rut for a while now. They haven’t made the playoffs since winning the World Series in 2015. Further, they’ve finished in fourth or fifth place in the division each of the last six seasons.

That’s actually part of the reason Witt Jr. wanted to stay.

“I want to make this my home, and so being able to now do that is pretty special,” Witt Jr. said. “I know a lot of guys around (MLB) will be like we don’t really have a track record of winning – that’s part of the reason why I want to be here.

“I want to be homegrown and I want to win with this team. I want it to be with the Royals. That’s why I feel like it’s going to be a perfect fit for me. Just going to keep working to get better each and every day and try to bring back what they had a couple years ago."