By MATT PIKE
After an outstanding week, that included an inside the park home run against the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr has been named the American League Player of the Week for May 4th-10th.
The honor Witt Jr.’s third career American League Player of the Week, following May 20th-26th, 2024 and July 15th-21st, 2024. His three such awards are tied with teammate Vinnie Pasquantino and Carlos Beltrán for the sixth most in Royals history, trailing only George Brett (12), Hal McRae (5), Billy Butler (5), Mike Sweeney (4) and Bret Saberhagen (4).
Witt Jr. led the Royals to a 4-3 homestand last week vs. the Guardians and Tigers, during which he slashed .407/.448/.815 (11-for-27). He tied for the American League lead last week in hits, extra-base hits (5), home runs (3) and runs (7). Witt Jr.’s .815 slugging percentage led the American League, as did his 22 total bases.
In a 6-2 win over Cleveland a week ago tonight, Witt Jr. hit a 422-ft. home run and stole third base later in the game. It marked his second game this season with a home run and a steal and the 19th of his career, third most in the Majors since his 2022 debut. Witt Jr. hit safely in six of seven games last week, including a career-high-tying four-hit effort last Thursday vs. Cleveland to mark his 11th career game with four hits. He also drew a walk in that game to mark the first time he’s reached base five times in his career.
Another big moment for Witt Jr. came in a 5-1 win last Saturday night vs. Detroit when Witt Jr. hit a two-run, inside-the-park home run to mark the second of his career and first since Aug. 14th, 2023. There have been 127 inside-the-park HR in the Statcast Era (since 2015) and Witt Jr.’s home-to-home time of 14.13 seconds last Saturday night was the fourth fastest.
This is the fifth time since 2024 a Royal has won American League Player of the Week, which matches Cleveland, Minnesota and Seattle for the 2nd-most awards among American League teams during that time, trailing only the Yankees (10). Witt Jr. has accounted for three of those awards, matching José Ramírez for the second most among American League players since 2024, trailing only Aaron Judge (6).
Last Tuesday, Bobby visited with students at Ingels Elementary in the Hickman Mills School District of Kansas City, Mo. Witt Jr.’s visit was part of the Royals Literacy League, which is led by the Kansas City Royals Foundation in partnership with SchoolSmartKC, QuikTrip and the Sherman Family Foundation. The program brings Royals players into classrooms and provides resources for reading in the first through fifth across nine local schools.
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