"Never seen anybody like him" - Royals exec compares Bobby Witt Jr. to Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes

Bobby Witt Jr. is the franchise player for the Kansas City Royals, which is why they extended him through 2037 before he had his MVP-caliber season last year. In the same way, the Kansas City Chiefs extended Patrick Mahomes well before they had to in order to lock down a franchise star.

Witt is a budding star. If not for Aaron Judge, he would've been the runaway American League MVP. If he had played in the National League, he might have beaten out Shohei Ohtani, too.

He is one of the top players in baseball, and Royals executive Ned Yost believes he's exceptional. On Tuesday's episode of MLB Network Radio, Yost said:

"He's a once-in-a-generation type player. He is absolutely the total package. He's a phenomenal teammate, a tremendous leader and a young guy. He signs a monster contract like $288 million last year and steps in after doing that and has the best year of his career."

Yost continued:

"I liken Bobby Witt in an organization as I do a Patrick Mahomes. He's a championship-caliber player. When you have a championship-caliber player like him on your team and in your organization, you get a chance to be a perennial contender. ... His makeup is absolutely off the charts and I've never seen anybody like him."

Yost was effusive in praising Witt, calling him a true five-tool player, something that's increasingly rare in baseball now.

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Bobby Witt Jr. earned MLB Top 100 rank

To be in the same breath as Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani is an impressive feat, and Bobby Witt Jr. did that last year. He trailed only Judge in fWAR, and he and the New York Yankees star were the only players with double-digit fWAR. Witt outperformed Ohtani in that metric.

Bobby Witt Jr. was ranked third (Imagn)

Even by the more conservative bWAR, Witt edged out Ohtani 9.4 to 9.2, both trailing Judge. By all metrics, Witt, who'd never even made an All-Star Game before, was one of the best players in baseball last year.

He was rewarded by being acknowledged as such in MLB's Top 100 countdown. Ohtani was No. 1, Judge was No. 2 and Witt was No. 3. He ranked ahead of players like Mookie Betts, Gunnar Henderson and Jose Ramirez.