Kansas City Royals boast surprisingly strong presence in ESPN’s award watch list

The biggest misconception about All-Star berths is that they’re essentially first-half awards, ignoring the full scope of a season. They make for a great storyline, but do they really compare to an All-MLB Team nod or a coveted individual award?

That’s why Kansas City Royals fans were more focused on Seth Lugo’s finish in the AL Cy Young voting or Bobby Witt Jr.’s place in the AL MVP race than on their brief trip to Texas for the Midsummer Classic last season.

Speaking of individual awards, the races are coming into sharper focus as the season hits the homestretch. ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle released the outlet’s latest Awards Watch, spotlighting the Big Three honors—MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year—for each league. In some years, Royals fans would celebrate just having a fringe candidate mentioned.

This year, Kansas City has five players in the conversation—a testament to how far the club has come in closing the talent gap that plagued the organization for much of the past decade.

Royals are well represented in latest ESPN Awards Watch update.

It’s no surprise that Witt is once again in the AL MVP race, even if some Royals fans feel he hasn’t matched last season’s elite form. New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge is cruising toward another MVP win, while Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh’s historic year at the position has him ranked ahead of Witt in ESPN’s projections. Few players can match Witt’s five-tool ceiling, and it’s worth wondering how his 2024 season would stack up in this year’s race.

Further down the list, in ninth, first-time All-Star Maikel Garcia makes an appearance. Even though he’s tied with two other players, Garcia’s rebound from last year is remarkable in every way—something ESPN has recognized, and fans should too.

Moving down to the Cy Young race, the Royals once again have two names in the mix: southpaw Kris Bubic and veteran Michael Wacha. Both are well behind the leaders—Bubic at seventh and Wacha tied for eighth—but their presence is still notable. Much like Judge’s grip on the MVP, the AL Cy Young feels like Tarik Skubal’s to lose, with the Detroit Tigers ace dominating the field.

Bubic was enjoying a career year after returning to the rotation, but the Royals announced in late July that he would miss the rest of the season with a left rotator cuff strain—a lingering concern for fans given this was his first full year back from Tommy John surgery. He still logged 116.1 innings and 20 starts, but the shortened season will almost certainly limit his Cy Young vote total.

Meanwhile, Wacha has been every bit worth the extension Kansas City gave him this offseason, emerging as the team’s stopper after injuries and Seth Lugo’s struggles placed more weight on his shoulders. Over his last six starts, he’s averaged six innings with a stingy 2.00 ERA, earning the win in all three of his August outings. According to Baseball Reference, Wacha has never finished in the top 10 in Cy Young voting over his 13-year career.

Last but certainly not least, Kansas City boasts the American League’s best rookie pitcher—and at this point, it’s undeniable. Lefty Noah Cameron has been a stabilizing force in the rotation, delivering a 2.52 ERA and 1.03 WHIP over 93 innings in 16 starts. ESPN ranks him second in the AL Rookie of the Year race, trailing Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz by a healthy margin.

The Royals haven’t had a Rookie of the Year winner since Ángel Berroa in 2003, so Cameron closing that gap this late in the season would be both surprising and historic. Making his MLB debut and immediately slotting in as a steady, reliable arm has been a huge boost for Kansas City’s rotation, especially during the injury-plagued stretches of the year.

Overall, the Royals aren’t favorites to claim any of baseball’s major hardware this season—an uphill battle for a team hovering around .500 this late in the year. But having multiple players in the conversation, including two ranked in the top three for their respective awards, is a massive improvement from the days when the franchise’s long-term hopes rested on the likes of Nicky Lopez and Hunter Dozier.