Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. Already Projected For Major 2025 Award By MLB Expert Panel
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It's awfully early in the 2025 Major League Baseball season, but it's never too early to predict some major hardware for Bobby Witt Jr.
The Kansas City Royals' shortstop will turn 25 this season, but he's already established himself as one of the upper-echelon stars in all of baseball. Last season, he took his game to new heights, finishing second in Most Valuable Player voting. Can he continue to climb the ladder?
Though Witt may not be off to a world-beating start through five games, he's still getting things done, as evidenced by his game-winning double on Saturday against the Cleveland Guardians. He's 6-for-21 so far on the season without a home run, but he does lead the team with three stolen bases.
By season's end, where will Witt's stats be? And more importantly, what sorts of awards can he expect to add to his trophy case?
On Tuesday, a panel of MLB.com site experts projected that Witt would finish as the first-team All-MLB shortstop. Author Manny Randwaha explained why the panel chose Witt to repeat the feat from 2024.
"Witt took a quantum leap with his performance last season, and that was after a 30-homer/49-steal campaign in 2023," Randwaha wrote. "The 25-year-old superstar’s OPS went from .813 to .977 and he led the Majors in hits (211) and batting average (.332) while belting 32 homers and swiping 31 bases.
"He was runner-up to Aaron Judge in AL MVP voting in just his third MLB season. He shined defensively, too, winning his first career Gold Glove Award."
Shortstop is perhaps the most competitive position at the moment, so Witt repeating as a first-teamer would be no small feat. Among others, he's got to compete with Francisco Lindor, Corey Seager, Elly De La Cruz, Mookie Betts, and Gunnar Henderson.
As Witt goes, the Royals go. So the more he can make his case for major postseason awards throughout the season, the likelier it is that Kansas City will find itself back in October.
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org
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