KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. became the first shortstop in major league history with multiple seasons of at least 30 homers and 30 steals when the All-Star swiped second base in the first inning of Tuesday night's game against the Detroit Tigers.
Witt finished with three walks in the game, which the Royals lost 3-1 in 10 innings.
“It's pretty special any time you get to be the first,” Witt said, “but yeah, that's over now. We're onto tomorrow.”
The Royals are 2 1/2 games behind Baltimore for the first AL wild-card spot and 1 1/2 ahead of Minnesota for the second.
Witt has 31 homers this season, including a grand slam in the series-opener Monday night, to go with 30 steals. The 24-year-old superstar had 49 steals last season, when he hit the homer he needed to reach 30 with three games left in the season.
The son of longtime big league pitcher Bobby Witt also became the first player with multiple 30-30 seasons in his first three years in the big leagues. In fact, only six other players have had one within their first three seasons.
“He’s the best player in baseball. He’s incredible,” Royals pitcher Cole Ragans said. "A special talent, a special human being. We’re blessed to be able to watch him each and every day, and how hard he works behind the scenes to make that product on the field be what it is, is incredible. He’s just a special, special player. It’s a joy to get to watch every single day.”
The second overall pick in the 2019 first-year player draft, Witt signed an 11-year deal with the Royals in the offseason that ultimately will pay him $288,777,777. The biggest deal in franchise history included a $7,777,777 signing bonus, an ode to his No. 7 jersey that has become so popular with Kansas City fans who have packed Kauffman Stadium during their playoff chase.
The Royals are firmly in an AL wild-card spot with an outside chance of catching Cleveland in the division.
Witt has been one of the biggest reasons for their turnaround from a 106-loss season a year ago. He entered Tuesday leading the majors with 200 hits, a .332 average and 112 runs scored. The only players to finish a season leading in all three categories have been Nap Lajoie in 1901, Ty Cobb in 1911 and '15, Stan Musial in 1952 and Rod Carew in 1977.
More than anything else, Witt has brought an infectious enthusiasm to a club sorely in need of it.
The Royals won back-to-back AL Pennants in 2014 and '15 along with their first World Series title in 30 years, but they were unable to sustain the success and quickly returned to mediocrity. Kansas City lost at least 100 games three times in a span of six seasons before turning things around under second-year manager Matt Quatraro this season.
While fans in Kansas City have seen Witt’s stardom blossoming, his coming out party may have come this summer during the Home Run Derby at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, not far from where he grew up in Colleyville. Witt reached the finals but lost 14-13 to Teoscar Hernández of the Dodgers in a dramatic showdown that came down to the final swings.
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Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. beats the tag by Detroit Tigers second baseman Colt Keith to steal second during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is staying locked up after a judge Wednesday rejected the hip-hop mogul’s proposal that he await his sex trafficking trial in the luxury of his Florida mansion instead of a grim Brooklyn federal jail.
U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter ruled that Combs' plan — which included a $50 million bail offer, GPS monitoring and strict limitations on visitors — was “insufficient” to ensure the safety of the community and the integrity of his case.
Carter, agreeing with prosecutors who fought to keep Combs in jail, found that "no condition or set of conditions” governing his release could guard against the risk of him threatening or harming witnesses — a central charge in his case.
Combs' lawyers were making their second attempt in as many days to spring him from the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he has been held since pleading not guilty Tuesday to charges he physically and sexually abused women for years.
A federal magistrate on Tuesday rejected Combs' initial request for bail. On Wednesday, he and his lawyers struck out with Carter, the judge who will preside over his trial. Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo says he will next ask the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn Carter's ruling and release Combs.
“I’m not going to let him sit in that jail a day longer than he has to," Agnifilo said.
Combs looked at family members and tapped his heart several times as Wednesday’s hearing began, then sat stoically as he listened to arguments. Afterward, as federal agents led him away, his relatives somberly embraced and exchanged hand slaps.
Combs, 54, is accused in an indictment of using his “power and prestige” to induce female victims and male sex workers into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances dubbed “Freak Offs” that Combs arranged, participated in and often recorded. The events would sometimes last days, the indictment said.
The indictment alleges he coerced and abused women for years, with the help of a network of associates and employees, while using blackmail and violent acts including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings to keep victims from speaking out.
Combs has been in federal custody since his arrest Monday night at a Manhattan hotel.
Arguing to keep him locked up, prosecutor Emily Johnson told Carter that the once-celebrated rapper has a long history of intimidating both accusers and witnesses to his alleged abuse. She cited text messages from women who said Combs forced them into “Freak Offs” and then threatened to leak videos of them engaging in sex acts.
Johnson said Combs' defense team was “minimizing and horrifically understating" Combs' propensity for violence, taking issue with his lawyer's portrayal of a 2016 assault at a Los Angeles hotel as a lovers’ quarrel. Security video of the event showed Combs hitting his then-girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, in a hotel hallway.
Johnson seized on a text message from a woman who said Combs dragged her down a hallway by her hair. According to Johnson, the woman told the rapper: “I’m not a rag doll, I’m someone’s child.”
Combs is a “danger to the community and poses a serious risk to the integrity” of his case, Johnson argued.
Agnifilo also asked Carter to move Combs to a jail in New Jersey instead of the The Metropolitan Detention Center, which has about 1,200 inmates and has been described by some lawyers and judges as overcrowded, violent and neglected. The judge said Agnifilo would have to file a written request.
Combs’ Florida house is on Star Island, a man-made dollop of land in Biscayne Bay, reachable only by a causeway or boat. It is among the most expensive places to live in the United States. Combs’ request echoes that of a long line of wealthy defendants who have offered to pay multimillion-dollar bails in exchange for home detention in luxurious surroundings.
If he had been granted bail, Combs would have had to stay in that house while awaiting trial, according to the offer from his lawyers. Visits would be restricted to family, property caretakers and friends who are not considered co-conspirators, they said.
Many of the accusations in the indictment parallel allegations contained in a November lawsuit filed by Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura. The suit was settled the following day, but its allegations have followed Combs since.
The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Ventura did.
Without naming Ventura but clearly referring to her, Agnifilo argued at Tuesday's arraignment that the entire criminal case is an outgrowth of one long-term, troubled-but-consensual relationship that faltered amid infidelity. The “Freak Offs,” he contended, were an expansion of that relationship, and not coercive.
Prosecutors portrayed the scope as larger. They said they had interviewed more than 50 victims and witnesses.
Like many aging hip-hop figures, Bad Boy Records founder Combs had established a gentler public image. The father of seven children was a respected international businessman, whose annual “White Party” in the Hamptons was once a must-have invitation for the jet-setting elite.
But prosecutors said he used the same companies, people and methods he used to build his business and cultural power to facilitate his crimes. They said they would prove it with financial and travel records, electronic communications and videos of the “Freak Offs."
In March, authorities raided Combs' luxurious homes in Los Angeles and Miami, seizing narcotics, videos and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, according to prosecutors. They said agents also seized firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers.
A conviction on every charge in the indictment would require a mandatory 15 years in prison with the possibility of a life sentence.
This story has been edited to correct the spelling of Cassie’s legal first name: Casandra, not Cassandra.
Dalton reported from Los Angeles.
From right, Justin Dior Combs, Quincy Brown and King Combs, arrive at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams speaks about federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges against Sean "Diddy" Combs during a news conference, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
FILE - Sean "Diddy" Combs appears at the premiere of "Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story" on June 21, 2017, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
From left, King Combs, Quincy Brown and Justin Dior Combs arrive at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
In this courtroom sketch, Sean Combs, center, is flanked by his defense attorney Marc Agnifilo, left, and Teny Garagos, in Manhattan Federal Court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams speaks about federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges against Sean "Diddy" Combs during a news conference, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
FILE -Sean 'Diddy' Combs participates in "The Four" panel during the FOX Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 4, 2018. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
In this courtroom sketch, Sean Combs, seated right, looks at his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, left, as he delivers his bail argument as Combs' family in the gallery, background, raise their hands indicating to Judge Tarnofsky that they are in attendance, to bolster the defense attorney's bail argument, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Manhattan Federal Court in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
