Inside Bobby Witt Jr.’s All-Star week experience, from the perspective of family

Bobby Witt Jr. stepped to the plate in the final round of Monday’s T-Mobile Home Run Derby.

A few feet away, Witt’s parents, Laurie and Bobby Sr., cheered from their seats at Globe Life Field with a gleeful look in their eyes. Next to them sat Witt’s sisters, Nikki and Kianna, and the Kansas City Royals star’s fiancée, Maggie.

Their phones were bombarded with texts, but they couldn’t look away from the action on the field. Most of those messages came from halfway across the globe: Witt’s other sister, Shaley, was rooting for him in Japan.

Shaley, who is married to former major-league outfielder Cody Thomas, watched every swing feverishly — with TV commentary in Japanese, of course — while waiting to board a bullet train from Mt. Fuji to Osaka.

She wasn’t going to miss her little brother’s historic moment.

The world wouldn’t miss it either.

Witt introduced himself on a national stage during All-Star week. The five-tool athlete selected second overall by the Royals in the 2019 MLB Draft had delivered on his promise.

He has reached a pinnacle of the sport and now stands on the doorstep of superstardom. Fans are gravitating to his trademark smile and joyful hubris, his strokes of genius with a bat and glove and touch of hometown flair.

“I get chills still thinking about it,” Nikki said of her brother’s ascension to baseball’s elite. “I’m just so proud of him and we’re 12 years apart. So, you know, I watched him as a little boy play and now his dream came true.”

A (Witt) family affair

For as long as she can remember, Nikki shared a front-row seat for Witt’s baseball journey. There were early practices and late nights at the field.

Weekends were consumed with travel to tournaments, and Witt prepared for each one the same way. He’d put on his uniform early and calculate the hours until he could play another game.

“I don’t think we barely missed a game,” Nikki said. “We tried to make almost all of them.”

Nikki, who is married to former major-league pitcher James Russell, had multiple reasons to celebrate during Monday evening’s Home Run Derby. Russell served as Witt’s derby pitcher, and it was an extra-special day because her son, Jayce, also celebrated his third birthday.

The family recently gave Jayce a life-sized cutout of Witt, or “Uncle Junior,” as he’s known. Before the Home Run Derby, Jayce was firing fastballs at the cutout and having a blast.

“He loves Bobby Jr.,” Laurie said. “He was throwing batting practice to the cutout.”

Moments like that brought it all full circle for the Witts this week. Nikki searched for the words to describe the experience.

“I was on cloud nine just watching my son watch them,” Nikki said. “(Jayce) was just so happy yelling for them. It was just awesome and the energy (in the stadium) was just unreal.”

Kianna, 10 years Witt’s senior, compared the electric atmosphere to his big-league debut with the Royals. At some points on Monday and Tuesday, it even felt a little like a World Series.

“I feel like when he was in the Home Run Derby and made it to the final round, that brought back like a flood of memories from three years ago,” Kianna said. “Everyone was just rooting for him.”

Chanting his name

Kianna, who is married to big-league reliever Zach Neal, recalled the “Bobby” chants that reverberated throughout Kauffman Stadium on the day her brother made his major-league debut.

On Monday, she heard those same chants during the Home Run Derby. The sound was deafening this time as Witt nearly pulled off an improbable victory before losing in the final to L.A. Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez.

“You couldn’t have written it better,” Kianna said. “Like it being in Texas and us being able to come to this and him making it to the final round. Everything was better than we dreamed of.”

Witt nearly pulled even with Hernandez at the very end of the home run contest, but his final blast clanged off the center field wall.

“My nerves were shot,” Nikki said.

Witt, meanwhile, was all smiles following the event. He congratulated Hernandez and later received a special message from Shaley in Japan.

“We were having so much fun and living in the moment,” Nikki said. “And she just is on repeat saying, ‘I can’t believe it.’ She recorded her husband’s (Thomas) reaction, too, and they were just so fired up.”

Witt’s Texas-sized contingent of supporters at Globe Life Field was equally pumped. He’d given out 29 Home Run Derby tickets to family and friends.

The next evening, Witt had 27 tickets for the All-Star Game. He gave those to family, friends, former coaches and members of the community.

“When we found out a couple of years ago that it was going to be here (in Arlington, Texas) it was something that he really wanted to do,” Bobby Witt Sr. said. “He was very fortunate to be able to do it and it’s exciting with the family that was here.

“For him to be able to go out there (Monday), we had a couple nieces and nephews here, it was just a blast.”

A (lone) star rises

Witt grew up in Colleyville, Texas, about 20 minutes from Globe Life Field. The family watched his dad, Bobby Witt Sr., spend 11 of his 16 major-league seasons with the Texas Rangers.

Witt was a child when Bobby Sr. retired from pro baseball. So Witt grew up tagging along to his big-league brother-in-law’s games.

Russell recalled Witt being in the clubhouse at Wrigley Field in Chicago. He also met fellow All-Star Freddie Freeman when Russell played with the Atlanta Braves.

Those experiences fueled Witt’s desire to one day play Major League Baseball. And Witt did everything possible to make his childhood dream come true.

“I could just see it in his eyes,” Laurie said. “(Just him thinking) ‘I want to be like that some day.’”

In 2018, Laurie was in the dugout when Witt faced Rece Hinds, now with the Cincinnati Reds, in the High School Home Run Derby. Witt won that contest by a slim margin at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.

Laurie remembers Witt standing next to fellow All-Stars Aaron Judge, Bryce Harper and Royals teammate Salvador Perez. All the while, she said, Witt had visualized playing alongside them.

On Tuesday, he was able to don the same All-Star jersey that they had worn.

“When I saw that, it literally gave me chills thinking that he said that six years ago,” Laurie said.

Witt received a hearty ovation when he entered Tuesday evening’s All-Star Game alongside Royals teammates Perez and Cole Ragans. An inning later, Witt was on the field when this year’s fourth Royals All-Star, Seth Lugo, was sent in to pitch.

Fans were treated to a few signature Witt plays after seeing his powerful bat the night before. Each moment drew a response from the crowd.

Kianna said that celebratory applause couldn’t have been directed toward a better human.

“Junior is an incredibly talented and amazing baseball player, but he is (also) just an amazing person ...” Kianna said. “I think that is the best compliment you can ever have.”

A star-studded future

Witt is no longer standing on the doorstep. He is firmly in the discussion when it comes to the best players in the game.

He leads the league with 125 hits so far this season. He is batting .323 with 16 home runs, 63 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. He is on pace to record his second consecutive 30-30 campaign with the Royals.

“To see him do it,” Freeman said, “and become one of the best players in the game at this early in his career, we are going to be talking about Bobby Witt Jr. for a very long time.”

The buzz began long before Tuesday’s All-Star Game. It’s just reaching another level now as fans worldwide get to know the game’s latest phenom.

“Me and Bobby go way back to Team USA stuff,” Nationals All-Star CJ Abrams said. “He is a great player and is fun to watch. He’s doing his thing out there and now we are here.”

The thrill of All-Star week — all of it, including that Home Run Derby — wasn’t lost on the Witt family.

“I mean, the All-Star Game was cool and I don’t want to take anything away from it,” Bobby Sr. said. “But the Home Run Derby, for me, as he made it to the finals, that was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.”

As Witt rejoined the Royals to prepare for the season’s second half, Bobby Sr. sent his son a message about the gravity of the moment. The next chapter of Witt’s storybook career awaits.

“I said, ‘You did a tremendous job,’” Bobby Sr. said. “Everybody has seen that now.”