Kansas City Royals
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The Kansas City Royals announced today that infielder Bobby Witt Jr. and right-handed pitcher Michael Wacha have been named Royals Player and Pitcher of the Month, respectively, for May. The awards are determined by a local media vote.
Witt Jr. slashed .283/.331/.522 (32-for-113) with 6 doubles, 7 homers, 8 walks and 11 RBI in 28 games last month. He ranked among the American League leaders last month in fWAR (1.7, 1st), total bases (59, T-3rd), hits (T-5th), extra-base hits (13, T-6th), stolen bases (7, T-6th) and home runs (T-8th). Witt Jr. got off to a quick start in May, as he was named the American League Player of the Week for the period of May 4-10 after slashing .407/.448/.815 (11-for-27) with 2 doubles, 3 homers and 4 RBI during a 4-3 homestand vs. the Guardians (2-2) and Tigers (2-1). He hit his 2nd career inside-the-park home run on May 9 vs. Detroit, sporting a home-to-home time of 14.13 seconds, which was the 4th fastest in the Statcast Era (since 2015), trailing only Byron Buxton on Aug. 18, 2017 (13.85 sec.), Buxton on Oct. 2, 2016 (14.05) and Pete Crow-Armstrong on Aug. 23, 2024 (14.08). Witt Jr. hit safely in 23 of his 28 games last month, the most such efforts by an American League player and tied with Alex Bregman and Xavier Edwards for the 2nd most in the Majors, behind Cincinnati’s Spencer Steer (24). It marked the first time that a Royals player hit safely in at least 23 games in the month of May since Jon Jay recorded a hit in 26 of his 28 games in May 2018. This unanimous selection marks Witt Jr.’s 10th career monthly honor, which are the 4th most by a Royals position player since the award was established in 1995, trailing Alex Gordon (13), Mike Sweeney (13) and Eric Hosmer (11).
Wacha led all Royals starters with a 3.32 ERA (14 ER in 38.0 IP) in 6 starts last month. He recorded 5 quality starts in May, which was tied with Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez, Braxton Ashcraft and Jacob Misiorowski for the Major League lead. It was the fifth time in his Major League career (since 2013) that he tallied at least 5 quality starts in a single month, joining May 2023 with San Diego, August 2015, May 2014 and April 2014 with St. Louis. Wacha led the American League with 38.0 innings in his 6 starts last month, averaging 6.1 innings per outing. It marked his most innings in a month in his career, eclipsing his 37.1 innings in May 2015 with St. Louis. He worked at least 6.0 innings in 5 of his 6 starts last month, tied for the 3rd most in the Majors, behind Ashcraft (6) and Wheeler (6), while his 3 outings of at least 7.0 innings ranked tied for 3rd in MLB, behind Sánchez (5) and Nathan Eovaldi (4). Wacha induced 5 groundball double plays in his 6 starts in May, which matched Slade Cecconi and Walbert Ureña for the American League lead, trailing only Ashcraft (6) for the Major League lead. This marks Wacha’s second career monthly honor since joining the Royals, following August 2024, when he went 3-0 with a 3.19 ERA (11 ER in 31.0 IP) in 5 starts.