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Kansas City Royals Star Heading For Historic Company as Possible MVP Season Continues

As the Kansas City Royals battle for their first playoff spot since 2015, superstar infielder Bobby Witt Jr. is battling to join some unique company in baseball history.
Brady Farkas|
Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (7) celebrates his home run against the Minnesota Twins in the first inning at Target Field on Aug 12.
Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (7) celebrates his home run against the Minnesota Twins in the first inning at Target Field on Aug 12. | Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

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Kansas City Royals

The Kansas City Royals enter play on Friday at 66-55 on the season. They also own the third wild card spot in the American League and are battling for their first playoff appearance since 2015.

The driving forces behind the Royals success have been increased investment in pitching over the offseason, and the superstar play of Bobby Witt Jr.

Witt Jr. is angling for the American League MVP this season and he's also on the verge of joining some very unique baseball history.

Per @StatsCentre on social media:

Clubbing a solo home run & single as part of yesterday's 4-1 win vs MIN, 24-year old @Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. is now up to 295 total bases in 2024. It has him 5 back of Aaron Judge for the MLB lead while also being 5 off of tying for 4th on this list of American Leaguers

Once Witt Jr. gets to 300 total bases, he will join Hal Trosky and Jimmy Foxx as players to have 300 total bases in three seasons before turning 25. Ted Williams, Mike Trout and Joe Dimaggio each lead the way with four such seasons and Witt Jr. will have a chance to tie them in 2025.

It has been an incredible year for the shortstop, who was named an All-Star for the first time and finished second in the Home Run Derby. He's hitting .349 this year, which leads all of baseball. He also leads the league in hits with 168 and has 24 homers, 89 RBI and 25 stolen bases.

The Royals will play the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night at 6:40 p.m. ET.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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