Royals Announce 2022 Team Award Winners
The Kansas City Royals fell short of their expectations as a team in 2022, but some of their individual players went above and beyond all year long. For their efforts this past season, the club has recognized infielder Bobby Witt Jr., pitcher Brady Singer and catcher Salvador Perez as 2022 team award winners. Awards were voted on by the Kansas City Chapter of the BBWAA.
Witt is the Royals' Les Milgram Player of the Year winner, and for good reason. Per the team's release, he becomes the fourth rookie to win the award since it was established back in 1971. Witt finished first among all Kansas City players in hits (150), runs scored (82), doubles (31), triples (6), RBIs (80) and stolen bases (30) in 150 games played — also a team-high — this year. Witt became the first Royals rookie to ever join the 20/20 club (20 stolen bases and 20 home runs), as well as becoming just the fifth player in franchise history to do so.
Singer, the winner of the Bruce Rice Pitcher of the Year award, posted a 3.23 ERA across 153.1 innings of work this past season while also holding a 10-5 record in the process. Of his 24 starts, seven of them saw him go at least seven innings with one or fewer runs allowed. Per the club, that was the fourth-most among American League pitchers for the season. Singer's 2.9 fWAR and 4.5 bWAR led all starters on the team and helped cement his status atop the club's 2023 rotation.
Lastly, Perez was given the Joe Burke Special Achievement Award for 2022 after being named the club's Player of the Year in back-to-back years (2020 and 2021). Despite missing some time due to injury this year, Perez paced the Royals with 23 home runs and hit .297 following his second stint on the injured list. At the end of the season, Perez passed Billy Butler for the eighth-most hits in franchise history.
