Three Royals named to All-MLB Team

KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Major League Baseball tonight announced its First and Second All-MLB Teams, which included three Royals.

Bobby Witt Jr. was named All-MLB First Team at shortstop, while catcher Salvador Perez and starting pitcher Seth Lugo were named All-MLB Second Team at their positions.

The Royals three players selected across both teams tied the Astros and Dodgers for 2nd most and trailed only the Padres, who had a Majors-most four selections.

This is the first All-MLB Team honor for Witt Jr. and Lugo. Perez was named First Team All-MLB at catcher in 2020 and 2021. In the six years since these awards were introduced in 2019, Salvy is one of two catchers to earn All-MLB honors three times, along with Philadelphia’s J.T. Realmuto, who was named First-Team All-MLB in 2019 and 2022 and Second Team All-MLB in 2020.

Major League Baseball introduced the All-MLB Team awards in 2019 to give a more comprehensive honor that covered the full breadth of a season, complementing the All-Star Game selections that are awarded just past the season’s halfway point. Voters were asked only to consider performance during the regular season when casting their ballots. Fans accounted for 50% of the voting for the All-MLB Team, with a panel of experts taking the other 50%.

Perez, who was named the American League’s Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award winner at catcher on Tuesday, played in 158 games in 2024, the 2nd-highest total of his 13-year career, and made 90 starts behind the plate. His 27 home runs tied for the 2nd-highest total of his career and marked his eighth season with at least 20 homers.

Among qualified Major League catchers in 2024 (min. 50% games at the position), Salvy ranked 1st in RBI (104), 2nd in slugging percentage (.456), OPS (.786) and extra-base hits (55) and 3rd in hits (160), batting average (.271), on-base percentage (.330) and home runs (27).

Witt Jr., who has already been named a Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner and Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award winner at shortstop for 2024, led all Major League players in 2024 with a .332 batting average and 211 hits. Among qualified shortstops in the Majors, he also ranked 1st in runs (125), on-base percentage (.389), slugging percentage (.588), OPS (.977) and extra-base hits (88) and 2nd in RBI (109).

Witt Jr. hit 32 home runs (T-3rd among MLB shortstops) and had 31 stolen bases (T-2nd among MLB shortstops) to become the first shortstop in Major League history to record consecutive 30/30 seasons. He also became the second player ever (regardless of position) to lead the Majors in batting average during a 30/30 season, joining Mookie Betts in 2018.

In his first season with Kansas City, Lugo set career highs in 2024 with 33 starts and 206.2 innings, and ranked among the Major League leaders in starts (T-1st), innings (2nd), quality starts (22, T-2nd), wins (16, T-3rd) and ERA (3.00, 10th). He was also named the American League’s Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner at pitcher.