The Royals are bucking their trend of not spending big and giving young star Bobby Witt Jr. the largest contract in franchise history.
The team announced the contract extension for the 23-year-old shortstop on Monday, which The Post’s Jon Heyman confirmed is an 11-year pact worth $288.7 million and has a three-year club option that would take the deal to 14 years and $377.7 million.
Witt, who was under team control for four more years before the new contract, can opt out after the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th seasons, according to ESPN.
His average annual salary of $26.24 million is the sixth-highest among shortstops.
Witt reacted to the news on X, posting a handshake emoji and tagging the Royals’ account in a post that included a GIF of Leonardo DiCaprio playing Jordan Belfort in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” saying, “I’m not leaving.”
After being heralded as one of the top prospects in baseball, Witt has quickly established himself as a franchise cornerstone in just two MLB seasons.
He finished seventh in the AL MVP voting in 2023 during his sophomore season, slashing .276/.319/.495 with 30 home runs, 96 RBIs, a league-leading 11 triples, 49 stolen bases and 97 runs scored.
Witt finished with the third-best wins above replacement (WAR) among MLB shortstops last season at 5.7 behind Corey Seager (6.1) and Francisco Lindor (6.0), according to FanGraphs.
Before Witt’s deal, the Royals had just three players under contract making eight figures in 2024, according to Spotrac — catcher Salvador Perez ($20 million), and ex-Mets pitchers Michael Wacha ($16 million) and Seth Lugo ($15 million).
The Royals, who are seeking tax funding for a new stadium, just signed Wacha (two years, $32 million) and Lugo (three years, $45 million) in December.
Since winning the World Series in 2015, the Royals have gone eight straight seasons without a winning record and have eclipsed 100 losses three times, including in 2023, when they finished 56-106, the second-worst record in MLB.