KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The Kansas City Royals announced this morning that infielder Bobby Witt Jr. and right-handed pitcher Michael Wacha have been named Royals Player and Pitcher of the Month, respectively, for August. The awards are determined by a local media vote.
After being named American League Player of the Month for July, Witt Jr. put together another impressive campaign in August, slashing .310/.378/.673 (35-for-113) over 28 games. Of his 35 hits, 20 went for extra bases (57.1%), a mark that led the Majors, ahead of Jarren Duran’s 19 extra-base hits. Witt Jr.’s 20 extra-base hits were the most ever by a Royal in the month of August, and were the most by a Royal in any month since Mike Sweeney recorded 20 extra-base hits in May 2001. His 35 hits last month tied for the 2nd most in the American League—behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (39)—his 10 home runs were tied for 3rd and he ranked 5th in the league with a 1.051 OPS. The shortstop hit safely in 23 of his 28 games—and the Royals went 15-8 in the games in which he recorded a hit—and he recorded at least 1 RBI in 14 of his 28 contests. In the Royals 8-4 win vs. Boston on Aug. 7, he went 3-for-4 with 4 RBI and 2 home runs, marking his 6th career multi-homer game and his 4th of the season. In hitting his 20th home run of the season on Aug. 1 in Detroit, he became the first Major Leaguer ever to record 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in each of his first three seasons. Yesterday in Houston, he opened the month of September with his 30th home run of the year, becoming the first player in Royals history to record back-to-back 30-homer seasons. This unanimous selection marks Witt Jr.’s third monthly honor of the season (also May and July) and the seventh of his career, which is already the 6th most by a Royals position player since the award was established in 1995.