Sports
Could Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. be the first player in decades to hit .400 … at home?
By C. Trent Rosecrans, Stephen J. Nesbitt and Sam Blum
One night earlier this summer at Kauffman Stadium, Bobby Witt Jr. came to bat in the ninth inning with one on, one out and his Kansas City Royals down a run. Then he roped a game-tying triple for his third hit of the game, raced home on a walk-off grounder and only stopped running to conduct an on-field interview. Still catching his breath, Witt grinned at the home crowd chanting his name and said, “What do y’all think? Pretty fun?”
Witt, the 24-year-old All-Star shortstop, is having a sensational season. He leads the majors with a .352 batting average, rates as both the fastest man and best defender in the game, joins fellow American League MVP front-runner Aaron Judge as the only players above 8 WAR this season, and has started at shortstop and batted second in every Royals game this season.
On top of all that, Witt has been historically good in Kansas City: he’s on track to be the first major leaguer in 20 years to bat .400 at home. After going 3-for-5 Tuesday night, Witt is hitting .405 in 281 plate appearances at Kauffman Stadium this season.
Ted Williams batted above .400 at Fenway Park in 1941, 1951 and 1957. Since then, only nine hitters — four from the pre-humidor days in Colorado — have hit .400 in at least 275 plate appearances at home: Joe Cunningham, Rod Carew, Wade Boggs, Kirby Puckett, Andrés Galarraga, Eric Young Sr., Larry Walker, Jeff Cirillo and Barry Bonds.
.400 home hitters since Ted Williams
|
Year
|
Player
|
Team
|
Home
|
Road
|
Diff
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2024 |
Bobby Witt Jr. |
Royals |
.405 |
.299 |
.106 |
|
2004 |
Barry Bonds |
Giants |
.412 |
.314 |
.098 |
|
2001 |
Larry Walker |
Rockies |
.406 |
.293 |
.113 |
|
2000 |
Jeff Cirillo |
Rockies |
.403 |
.239 |
.164 |
|
1996 |
Eric Young Sr. |
Rockies |
.412 |
.219 |
.193 |
|
1993 |
Andrés Galarraga |
Rockies |
.402 |
.328 |
.074 |
|
1988 |
Kirby Puckett |
Twins |
.406 |
.308 |
.098 |
|
1987 |
Wade Boggs |
Red Sox |
.411 |
.312 |
.099 |
|
1985 |
Wade Boggs |
Red Sox |
.418 |
.322 |
.096 |
|
1977 |
Rod Carew |
Twins |
.401 |
.374 |
.027 |
|
1959 |
Joe Cunningham |
Cardinals |
.404 |
.294 |
.110 |
Witt may soon join that short list.
“He is as complete a player as you could ever imagine,” Boggs, who twice batted better than .400 at Fenway Park, said by phone this week.
“Plus power and uber speed,” Cirillo said.
“He’s become a really great player,” Carew said, “in a really short time.”
Kansas City’s spacious Kauffman Stadium suppresses home runs but aids in base hits. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
The ballpark itself is a factor in Witt’s chase of .400, just as it was with Boggs and Fenway’s Green Monster, with Puckett and the Metrodome’s AstroTurf, and with the mile-high Rockies. Kauffman Stadium has the second-largest outfield in the majors, behind Coors Field, suppressing home runs but giving extra space for singles, doubles and triples. The ballpark helps to maximize the bat-to-ball skill and speed that contribute to Witt’s high average, but it also mutes his home-run output.
In Cincinnati on Friday, Royals infielder Michael Massey guessed that if Witt played every game at the Great American Ball Park launching pad, he’d have 15 more homers. Later that night, Witt smashed his 25th homer this season, a second-deck blast that would’ve been out of any major league park. Massey was incredibly close. Witt’s projected home run total in Cincinnati — 39 — would do wonders for his MVP case.
“I would take Bobby in any ballpark,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said.
But Kansas City is home. Witt will take the hits however they come. He said his sole focus is having the same routine and preparation, home or away. “If I have that, then I feel like I’m going to be the same guy each and every night.”
Witt’s batting average is 106 points better at home than on the road this season. That’s in line with the Puckett, Boggs and Bonds home/road splits, and far less of a differential than the .400-hitting Rockies had. Players are more comfortable at home. (There’s a reason only one player in the past 75 years has hit .400 on the road: Ichiro Suzuki had a .405 road split in 2004.)
“When you’re at home and hitting well, everything is more to perfection,” Eric Young Sr. said. “You’ve got your bed, home cooking. It’s tremendous.”
Boggs didn’t realize until this week he’d ever hit .400 at home. But he wasn’t surprised. “I sorta knew it was extremely hard to get me out at Fenway Park,” he said. Boggs has the highest career batting average at Fenway: .369. He got there by being “totally consumed” with the left-field wall.
“If the wind is blowing out, I always had the confidence that I was going to get two hits that day,” he said.
Cirillo didn’t know he’d hit .400 at home, either. But he does remember getting hot in the last series at Coors Field in 2000.
“Glad I got a couple hits so we could have a conversation,” he said.
Jeff Cirillo, shown here in 2001, loved hitting in Colorado, for obvious reasons. (Tom Hauck / Allsport)
Cirillo was the fourth Rockies hitter to bat .400 in Colorado during the franchise’s first decade, and he certainly acknowledged that it wasn’t all great reflexes and batted-ball luck.
“We did it in Coors Field,” he said. “There might be a little bit of an asterisk to that one. What (Witt) is doing is absolutely incredible.”
Larry Walker hit .418 in 1998, .461 in 1999 and .406 in 2001. A humidor was installed in 2002 to tamp down offense. No Rockies hitter has hit .400 at home since that change, though Todd Helton came close — .391 in 2003.
On his way to the clubhouse before games in Colorado, Cirillo would walk across the immense Coors outfield. It felt to him like a links-style golf course, where you hit onto sprawling fairways.
“If you used the middle of the field,” he said, “you were never really in a slump.”
Kauffman Stadium never felt like that. Cirillo batted .234 over 32 road games in Kansas City. “It was always really hot, so your legs felt mushy in the box,” he said. He finds Witt’s feat remarkable, especially with the velocity in today’s game and how technology can help expose hitters’ flaws.
Boggs loved hitting in Kansas City — not because of the dimensions, but because of the AstroTurf that was there until 1994. Not only did Boggs hit .336 at Kauffman Stadium, but that was where he legged out his only inside-the-park home run.
“It was like playing on a pool table,” Boggs said. “If you hit a ball two or three steps to an infielder’s left or right it was through. That’s how fast it was.” But it’s a grass field now, and even with the turf no one hit .400 at Kauffman. When Hall of Famer George Brett batted .390 in 1980, he “only” hit .392 at home.
In the summer of 1977, Rod Carew wanted to be left alone. He had a .411 overall batting average at the start of July, and reporters were flocking to Minneapolis and the Twins’ road cities to talk to him. Carew had so many writers call his hotel rooms that he started changing the name on his reservation. He asked writers to arrive extra early at the ballpark if they wanted an interview. When they balked, he had Twins manager Gene Mauch reiterate the request.
“I didn’t want to take that .400 thing out on the field,” Carew said.
At one point, Carew stopped talking to reporters altogether. But the attention was impossible to avoid. Carew’s batting average slid to .374 by Aug. 25, and even though he hit .441 the rest of the way he still fell 12 points short of a .400 season. He did, however, hit .401 at home.
Carew doesn’t mind reporters asking anymore. He likes Witt, who was born 15 years after Carew’s last major league game. The Hall of Famer has seen a few stars come along with hitting styles that remind Carew of himself, guys like Brett, Suzuki and now Witt. They have the speed to leg out infield singles. They sit on fastballs yet adjust to do damage on off-speed stuff.
Rod Carew tips his cap at fans after a double put his batting average at .400 in June of 1977. (AP Photo / JM)
There aren’t too many reporters asking Witt about hitting .400, but all the same he doesn’t have a lot to say. “You’ve got to just go out and put good at-bats,” he said, “and whatever else happens, happens.” The numbers speak for themselves, and they say Witt’s season-long home hot streak is anything but smoke and mirrors. He’s not hitting bloops and bleeders. He’s barreling balls and finding gaps.
Witt has had 17 three-hit games in Kansas City this season, including a stretch in July of six of seven home games. Today it’s as hard to hit for average as it has been since 1968. The league-wide batting average is .244; for home teams it’s .245; at Kauffman Stadium it’s .259. Witt is in another stratosphere.
Young, like a handful of other .400-at-home hitters, played against Witt’s dad, the pitcher Bobby Witt, during his career. He saw Bobby Jr. grow up around the game and mature into a superstar.
“He’s on a different level mentally than a lot of kids in his class,” Young said. “That’s special because he’s able to see and play and perform in a way a little faster than the other guys.”
In a three-hit road game on Friday, Witt became the third Royals player with 25 homers and 25 steals in consecutive seasons, joining Carlos Beltrán and Bo Jackson.
“It’s incredible,” recently acquired Royals starter Michael Lorenzen said. “You see it on MLB Network every night and you kind of get sick of it, to be honest, because he’s on it every night with his highlights. Then playing with him, it’s the real deal. There aren’t many people you can say that about. You can say that about Bobby. It’s the real deal.”
Witt is on pace for 11.6 fWAR, more than any shortstop in history other than 1908 Honus Wagner (11.8). As the Royals bounce back from a 106-loss season to contend for an AL Central crown, their face-of-the-franchise shortstop is putting on show after show for the home crowd.
What do y’all think? Pretty fun?
(Top photo of Witt: Ed Zurga / Getty Images)
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Dallas Cowboys star CeeDee Lamb opened up about why he and teammate George Pickens were benched for the first drive of the team’s blowout win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
Lamb explained that he and Pickens were out late at a Las Vegas casino and were disciplined for returning past curfew. The wide receiver also said he wanted to refute reports on social media that he was seen throwing up at the casino the morning before the game.
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, left, celebrates his touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders with Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
“That’s a disrespect to even suggest that,” Lamb said, via The Dallas Morning News. “I know how to hold my liquor.”
Regardless of the benching, Lamb and Pickens had themselves a dynamite game.
Pickens had nine catches for 144 yards and a 37-yard touchdown catch. Lamb had five catches for 66 yards and a touchdown. Their touchdowns helped contribute to Dak Prescott’s incredible game as he was 25-of-33 with 268 passing yards and four touchdown passes.
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Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Ryan Flournoy, left, celebrates his touchdown catch against the Las Vegas Raiders with Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Pickens, who was acquired by the Cowboys in the offseason from the Pittsburgh Steelers, has had a terrific year in Dallas. He has 58 catches for 908 yards and seven touchdowns, as he’s pacing for his best season yet as a pro.
Lamb missed a couple of games with an injury. He has 40 catches for 557 yards and two touchdown catches.
George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb of the Dallas Cowboys celebrate a touchdown during the second quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on Nov. 17, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ian Maule/Getty Images)
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The Cowboys, despite their stunning trade of Micah Parsons, are still hanging around playoff contention and have a big game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. Dallas will enter the game 4-5-1 and Philadelphia will be at 8-2.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sports
Committee organizing L.A. Olympic Games adds former House speaker McCarthy, other GOP leaders, to the board
LA28, the committee behind the upcoming Olympic Games, has quietly added high-profile Republicans with deep ties to President Trump to its board of directors.
The 35-member volunteer board now includes former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Bakersfield Republican who resigned in 2023, and Reince Priebus, who served as Trump’s chief of staff for the first six months of his first term and, before that, as chair of the Republican National Committee.
Diane Hendricks, a major GOP donor who has given millions to Trump’s campaigns, and Patrick Dumont, who owns the Dallas Mavericks, also joined the board. Ken Moelis, an investment banker who worked with Trump in the 1990s and predicted the then businessman would win the presidency in 2016, is also on the roster.
The Trump-adjacent inflow to the board of directors, first reported by Politico, is the latest sign of the president’s possible involvement in the Summer Games.
It is not clear why the directors expanded the board or the criteria used in the selection process. A spokesperson for LA28 did not immediately respond to questions.
Kevin McCarthy
(Associated Press)
Not all of the new board members are tied to the president. Los Angeles business consultant Denita Willoughby and philanthropist Maria Hummer-Tuttle were also named to LA28.
“We are thrilled to welcome this accomplished group to the LA28 Board who will help create an unforgettable Games for athletes and fans alike,” Casey Wasserman, chair of the 2028 L.A. Olympics organizing committee, said in a prepared statement.
Wasserman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Although past presidents have taken a largely ceremonial role when the Olympics are held on U.S. soil, there are signs that Trump is seeking more involvement. The 2028 Games coincide with his final year in office.
In August, he signed an executive order naming himself chair of a White House task force on the Games. The president views the event as “a premier opportunity to showcase American exceptionalism,” according to a White House statement.
Trump at the time noted that he’d be willing to send the military to Los Angeles to protect the Games. In June, he sent the National Guard and U.S. Marines to the city amid escalating immigration enforcement actions, prompting pushback from Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Wasserman attended the executive order signing at the White House and thanked Trump for “leaning in” to planning for the Olympics.
“You’ve been supportive and helpful every step of the way,” Wasserman told the president at the time. “With the creation of this task force, we’ve unlocked the opportunity to level up our planning and deliver the largest and, yes, greatest Games for our nation, ever.”
Sports
MLB commissioner addresses sport’s illegal gambling scandal, will cooperate with Congress on investigation
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Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday the league will cooperate with a U.S. Senate committee’s request for documents detailing gambling investigations.
“We’re going to respond fully and cooperatively and on time to the Senate inquiry,” Manfred said during a news conference at an owners meeting.
The sport has been rocked by a scandal involving Cleveland Guardians players Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, who are accused of aiding gamblers by taking bribes to rig pitches.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred speaks during the first round of the MLB Draft July, 13, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee sent a letter Monday to Manfred asking for information by Dec. 5.
The committee is asking for responses to six questions by that date:
- “How and when was MLB made aware of suspicious betting and game manipulation activity by Emmanuel Clase or Luis Ortiz? Provide documents sufficient to support your response?”
- “Provide documents sufficient to show MLB’s policies and procedures relating to sports betting, gambling, or game rigging by MLB or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners.”
- “List any investigation into an MLB or affiliate team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners for violating MLB rules relating to sports betting, gambling, or game rigging or related criminal conduct between January 1, 2020, and the present.”
- “Provide all documents related to any investigation listed in response to Request 3, including: Procedures and policies used to conduct any relevant investigation; Documents received by third parties or otherwise collected by MLB during any relevant investigation; and Findings, conclusions, and actions taken as a result of any relevant investigation.”
- Procedures and policies used to conduct any relevant investigation;
- Documents received by third parties or otherwise collected by MLB during any relevant investigation; and
- Findings, conclusions, and actions taken as a result of any relevant investigation.”
- “Provide communications between MLB and any sports betting platform or sports gambling integrity monitor regarding suspicious or flagged sports wagers: Placed by MLB’s or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners; or Placed on MLB games or propositions related to MLB games, players, or teams.”
- Placed by MLB’s or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners; or
- Placed on MLB games or propositions related to MLB games, players, or teams.”
- “Explain the extent to which MLB has addressed and plans to further address the alleged instances of sports betting, gambling, and game rigging that have occurred including: How, if at all, MLB plans to revise its rules, policies, procedures, or enforcement structure; How, if at all, MLB plans to revise or enforce its rules relating to cellphone use during games; and How MLB plans to ensure players, employees, coaches, and owners do not have ties to organized crime.”
- How, if at all, MLB plans to revise its rules, policies, procedures, or enforcement structure;
- How, if at all, MLB plans to revise or enforce its rules relating to cellphone use during games; and
- How MLB plans to ensure players, employees, coaches, and owners do not have ties to organized crime.”
Two days after the indictments were unsealed on Nov. 9, MLB said its authorized gaming operators will cap bets on individual pitches at $200 and exclude them from parlays.
“We think the steps we’ve taken in terms of limiting the size of these prop bets and prohibiting parlays off them is a really, really significant change that should reduce the incentive for anyone to be involved in an inappropriate way,” Manfred said.
MLB CRACKS DOWN WITH NEW BETTING LIMIT AFTER CLEVELAND PITCHERS CHARGED IN GAMBLING SCHEME
Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee sent a letter Monday to Manfred asking for information by Dec. 5. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Manfred said MLB’s internal investigation into the Cleveland pitchers didn’t have a timetable. Ortiz was placed on paid leave July 3 and Clase was placed on leave July 28.
“We think that we should take advantage of the offseason to make sure that we conduct the most thorough and complete investigation possible,” he said.
Both Ortiz and Clase have pleaded not guilty.
Clase and Ortiz were arrested and appeared in federal court in New York last week. Clase, a three-time All-Star, pleaded not guilty to charges that he took bribes to help gamblers win money on his pitches. Ortiz also pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Officials said in the indictment that, from May 2023 to June 2025, Clase agreed with one co-conspirator to “throw specific pitches in certain MLB games” so that the bettors they were allegedly partnered with “would profit from illegal wagers made based on that inside information.” Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme in June 2025.
The indictment said Clase conferred with one bettor to throw a ball on the first pitch of an at-bat when he was brought into games in relief. The indictment pointed to instances in specific games, including May 19, 2023, vs. the New York Mets; June 2, 2023, vs. the Minnesota Twins; and June 7, 2023, vs. the Boston Red Sox.
Clase allegedly began to request and receive bribes and kickback payments for agreeing to throw the specific pitches in April, according to the indictment. In one instance, the indictment said, Clase used his phone in the middle of a game to coordinate with a bettor on a pitch he would throw.
Bettors allegedly won $400,000 from betting platforms on pitches thrown by Clase between 2023 and 2025.
When Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme, the indictment said, he agreed to throw balls over strikes on certain pitches in exchange for bribes or kickbacks. He allegedly agreed to throw a ball on June 15 against the Seattle Mariners for around $5,000 in his first pitch in the second inning.
The indictment said Ortiz agreed to throw a ball in his first pitch of the third inning on June 27 against the St. Louis Cardinals for $7,000. In June 2025, bettors won at least $60,000 on pitches thrown by Ortiz.
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Cleveland Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase’s leave was extended indefinitely Aug. 31, 2025. (IMAGN/AP)
The indictment announcement came weeks after three NBA figures were swept up in an FBI operation involving alleged illegal gambling. Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones were among the more than two dozen arrested in the alleged scheme.
Fox News Digital’s Ryan Gaydos and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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