Witt places 2nd behind Judge in race for AL MVP

KANSAS CITY -- A historic 2024 season that saw Bobby Witt Jr. establish himself as one of the stars of the game also netted the shortstop the highest finish in American League Most Valuable Player voting by a Royal in 39 years.

Witt was named the MVP runner-up on Thursday, finishing second to Yankees star Aaron Judge, who won his second MVP unanimously. Judge’s teammate in New York, Juan Soto, finished third, followed by Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson and Cleveland’s José Ramírez to round out the top five.

• Final 2024 MVP results

All 30 ballots from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters had Judge first and Witt second. It is the first time in AL MVP voting that the winner received all the first-place votes and the runner-up got all the second-place votes and only the second time this has occurred in BBWAA MVP balloting, following Atlanta’s Ronald Acu?a Jr. receiving all 30 first-place votes and Los Angeles’ Mookie Betts receiving all 30 second-place votes last year.

Witt’s runner-up finish was the highest by a Royals player since 1985, when George Brett finished second to Don Mattingly. Brett is still the only Royal to ever win MVP when he won in 1980.

• All-time MVP Award winners

In his third Major League season, Witt soared to new heights and brought the Royals with him. Fresh off an 11-year contract extension, Witt established himself as an MVP candidate early on in 2024 and never looked back -- while helping bring postseason baseball back to Kansas City for the first time in nine years.

Witt’s 10.4 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs, ranked second in baseball only to Judge’s 11.2. Witt was the 2024 batting champion with a .332 average and led MLB in hits (211) -- the first 200-hit season in his career. He ranked in the top five in the AL in RBIs (109, tied for fourth), on-base percentage (.389, fifth), slugging percentage (.588, second) and wRC+ (168, tied for third).

An All-Star for the first time in his career, Witt hit 32 home runs and 45 doubles while stealing 31 bags this year. His second consecutive 30-homer, 30-steal campaign made Witt the first shortstop ever to record multiple 30-30 seasons.

Only six shortstops have ever recorded a 30-30 season in MLB history; Witt has now done it twice in the first three years of his career and became the first player -- regardless of position -- with multiple 30-30 campaigns through his age-24 season.

And Witt was one of the best defenders at the most premier position on the field. The first-year AL Gold Glove shortstop played 160 games at the position and 161 total games in 2024. His 16 outs above average ranked first among AL shortstops and were tied for second in MLB. Opponents also had to factor in Witt’s speed as the fastest player in MLB with a 30.5 ft/sec sprint speed. They couldn’t simply just put him on base and forget about him.

Arguably the most well-rounded player in the game, Witt got it done this year in the field, at the plate and on the bases. The Royals seemed to rally around their shortstop throughout the summer, and together with captain Salvador Perez, Witt led Kansas City to relevance again – and is as motivated as ever to keep it that way.

This was also Witt’s third and final season with Prospect Promotion Incentive eligibility, so a top-three finish in MVP voting nets the Royals an extra pick in next year’s Draft, which will come immediately after the first round.

The Royals have been well-represented this awards season, a testament to the talent they fielded and the turnaround they put together in 2024 up and down the organization. In total, the Royals feature the MVP runner-up in Witt, the Cy Young runner-up in Seth Lugo, the Manager of the Year runner-up in Matt Quatraro and the Executive of the Year runner-up in J.J. Picollo. Cole Ragans also finished fourth in Cy Young voting. The Royals had two Gold Glovers (Witt and Lugo), two Silver Sluggers (Witt and Perez), an All-MLB First Team shortstop (Witt) and two All-MLB Second Team players (Lugo and Perez).