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The Kansas City Royals announced Monday that they signed Bobby Witt Jr. to the largest contract in franchise history.
Per ESPN's Jeff Passan, the deal is worth $288.8 million over 11 years. A shortstop with power and speed on the basepaths, Witt is one of the best young players in baseball, and the contract keeps him with the Royals through his prime on a lucrative deal. The deal also arrives a year before Witt would've become arbitration-eligible after the 2024 season.
Witt, 23, is entering his third MLB season. In 158 games last year, he slashed .276/.319/.495 with 30 home runs, 96 RBI and 49 stolen bases. His 11 triples led the AL. After struggling on defense as a rookie, Witt showed great strides in his second MLB campaign. He also reduced his strikeout rate from among the league's worst (21.4%) as a rookie to 17.4% in 2023, placing him in MLB's 79th percentile. Overall, he produced 4.4 WAR in 2023.
Per Passan, the contract includes opt-outs for Witt in years seven through 10. The Royals have an option after the 11th season to extend the contract by three years and $89 million. That would bring the total value of the deal to $377.8 million over 14 years.
The Royals selected Witt out of high school with the No. 2 pick in the 2019 draft. After three years in the minor leagues, which included Minor League Player of the Year honors in 2021, Witt joined the Royals full-time in 2022. He hit 20 home runs and stole 30 bases as a rookie and finished fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting. He followed that with a 2023 campaign that earned a seventh-place finish in MVP voting.
For the Royals, the contract signals an investment in winning on the heels of a 56-106 campaign and while Jackson County voters face a referendum on whether to raise the sales tax to help fund a new downtown stadium.
Witt's father, Bobby Witt Sr., played 16 MLB seasons as a pitcher and won a World Series with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001. His father now works as his agent and helped negotiate the record-setting contract.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
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