KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. continues to add to his banner year as he earned All-MLB First Team honors for the first time in his career Thursday.
Witt, who has already been named a Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner and Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award winner at shortstop this year, led all MLB players with a .332 batting average and 211 hits during an MVP-level campaign.
He also ranked first in runs (125), on-base percentage (.389), slugging percentage (.588), OPS (.977) and extra-base hits (88) and second in RBI (109) among qualified shortstops.
Additionally, Witt became the first shortstop in MLB history to record consecutive 30/30 seasons and became the second player ever to lead the league in batting average during a 30/30 season, joining Mookie Betts in 2018.
Other Royals players were recognized as well, with catcher Salvador Perez and starting pitcher Seth Lugo being named to the All-MLB Second Team.
Lugo made his first appearance on an All-MLB Team, while Perez was previously named First Team All-MLB in 2020 and 2021.
MLB introduced the All-MLB Team awards in 2019 to give a "more comprehensive honor that covered the full breadth of a season," according to a news release from the Royals.
Fans accounted for 50% of the voting for the All-MLB Team and a panel of experts comprised the other 50%.
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