Can Bobby Witt Jr. Bag an Extra Draft Pick for the Royals?

Bobby Witt Jr. is one of the most promising young stars in the game.

After a disappointing rookie year by top prospect standards (he was still worth 2.3 fWAR), the 23-year-old burst onto the scene in his sophomore season. With 30 home runs, 49 stolen bases, and 14 OAA, Witt showed off all the tools that once made prospect evaluators (including our own Aram Leighton) salivate.

His performance was enough to earn him a massive extension this winter. The deal guarantees the young shortstop $288.77 million over 11 seasons, while also giving him the chance to opt out at any point over the final four years of the deal, ahead of his age-31 to 34 campaigns.

It’s no mystery why Kansas City signed the homegrown superstar to such a contract. The deal buys out his first three years of free agency, keeping Witt in town until 2030, at minimum. That gives the Royals plenty of time to build around him and open their window of contention.

The Royals are hoping Witt will be the leader of their next great team, both on the field and off.

Yet before that next great Royals team takes shape, there is something else Witt can offer the club. With a strong enough season in 2024, the second-overall selection in the 2019 draft can potentially bag his team another top pick.

Bobby Witt Jr. and the Prospect Promotion Incentive

The Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) is a clause in the latest collective bargaining agreement that encourages teams to promote their top prospects at the beginning of the season, rather than holding those players in the minors to set back their service clocks.

If a PPI-eligible player (a) accrues a full year of service time and (b) goes on to win Rookie of the Year or finish top-three in MVP or Cy Young voting before he would have qualified for arbitration, his team will get an extra draft pick the following summer. The additional pick comes in a new round immediately following the first round.

To be eligible for the PPI, a player must “appear on at least two of the three Top 100 Prospect rankings released by MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and ESPN” (per MLB.com). A player can only earn the PPI for the team with which he made his MLB debut, and a player can only earn the PPI for his team once. Finally, foreign professionals, namely players from the KBO and NPB, are not eligible.

Since the PPI was introduced two years ago, three young stars have earned their team an additional draft pick: 2022 AL Rookie of the Year Julio Rodríguez, 2023 AL Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson, and 2023 NL Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll.

In other words, the new initiative has already been successful, but it has yet to be used to its full extent. No player has earned his team a draft pick by finishing top-three in the MVP or Cy Young race.

Could Witt be the first?

Is Bobby Witt Jr. an MVP Candidate?

Earlier this month, MLB.com published a complete list of second and third-year players eligible for the incentive. The list features plenty of talent, including Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña, Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez, and Red Sox slugger Triston Casas.

However, it would be a huge surprise if any of the pitchers on the list won a Cy Young Award, and only one inclusion is a legitimate MVP contender: Bobby Witt Jr.