In a quiet moment on Monday, before Bobby Witt Jr.’s first postseason game—and the Kansas Royals’ first since they captured the 2015 World Series—manager Matt Quatraro pulled his star shortstop aside. “You’re going to have to learn how to handle praise,” the skipper said. “You’ve earned this, and you’re going to have to get used to this for the rest of your life.”
Witt, 24, deflected, as he always does. For the face of a franchise, he is remarkably uncomfortable with adulation. But on Tuesday, he got a compliment he enjoyed.
For practically his whole life, Witt had dreamed of this moment: standing in the batter’s box with a playoff game on the line. He loved the feeling of hitting the single that scored the deciding run in the Royals’ 1–0 win in Game 1 of the American League wild-card series over the Baltimore Orioles. But what he couldn’t stop talking about afterward was the soundtrack…