Bobby Witt Jr. continues his dominance with his third straight MLB First-Team nod  

At what point does a player’s elite performance almost become a formality? Since making his MLB debut with the Kansas City Royals in 2022, Bobby Witt Jr. has continued to put himself into a category all by himself. In his first five seasons, the Royals superstar shortstop has earned so many top honors that it has hardly become news when he collects yet another one, even if he may come up empty-handed in the MVP race.  

Just to run through the motions, Witt Jr. has now been named as the All-MLB First Team shortstop for the third straight year. His selection was revealed at the MLB Awards in Las Vegas on November 11. He was joined by some of the game’s best players, including Yordan Álvarez, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Junior Caminero. 

Since the All-MLB Team awards were first introduced in 2019, Witt Jr. is just one of two Royals players to be included in the First-Team honors. Salvador Perez was named to back-to-back First Teams in 2020 and 2021. 

Bobby Witt Jr. has already made a very early case for being named as the greatest Royals player of all-time 

It’s far too early for Witt Jr. to be considered as one of the greatest shortstops to ever play the game. He could be on his way, but with just five seasons under his belt, he has a lot more he needs to do to get to that point. With how he’s begun his career, it may not be too hard for him to enter into the conversation, though. 

While he still has a way to go to achieve the greatest of all-time status on the MLB stage, he has already made a very compelling, yet premature case as the best Royals player to ever put on the uniform. For now, that title comfortably belongs to George Brett. After collecting 3,154 hits and accumulating 84.6 fWAR throughout his 21-year career, that will be a difficult task for Witt Jr. to complete. 

That doesn’t mean that he can’t. In just five seasons, Witt Jr. already has 879 hits in 769 career games. That’s about an average of 176 hits a season. That would put him on pace to surpass Brett in career hits by 2039, when Witt Jr. would be 39 years old. Not impossible, but it would certainly take longevity to achieve.  

Not to be outdone, Witt Jr. has amassed 33.6 fWAR throughout his short five-year MLB career. This is where Witt Jr. could quickly take the lead over the Hall of Famer. The star shortstop would have to continue his current 6.7 fWAR per season average for a little over seven and a half more seasons before he would be able to catch up to Brett in career fWAR. That would be no easy task, but it doesn’t seem too far-fetched for a player of Witt Jr.’s caliber.  

Okay, maybe it's a tad bit early to start imagining Witt Jr.’s Hall of Fame speech at this point in time. The important thing is to really appreciate how good of a player he has been for the Royals here in the 2020s. As the centerpiece of the Royals’ young core, Witt Jr. still has more to prove. And with more MLB First-Team honors likely heading his way, we’ll have plenty of time to think about his future in Cooperstown later.  

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