Kansas City Royals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals announced their 2025 team award winners today, which were voted on by the Kansas City Chapter of the BBWAA.
Bobby Witt Jr. was named the Les Milgram Player of the Year, an award named in honor of the late Kansas City businessman, community leader and Royals board member. Left hander Noah Cameron was named Bruce Rice Pitcher of the Year, named in honor of the late Kansas City-area sportscaster.
Maikel Garcia earned the Joe Burke Special Achievement Award, named in honor of the Royals Hall of Famer, who was the club’s General Manager and President during his 20 years with the Royals from 1973-92. The award is given to an unsung player who contributed beyond what was expected or someone voters felt deserved recognition for an outstanding season.
Witt Jr. has won Royals Player of the Year in each of his four seasons in the Majors, including unanimous selections in 2023 and 2024. He is the first to win Royals Player of the Year honors in four consecutive seasons. Since the award was established in 1971, Witt Jr.’s four Royals Player of the Year Awards are 2nd most, trailing only George Brett, who won the award a club-record eight times.
Witt Jr. slashed .295/.351/.501 (184-for-623) in 157 games with Kansas City in 2025 and recorded 23 home runs and 38 stolen bases, becoming the first player in Major League history with at least 20 HR and 30 steals in each of his first four big league seasons.
He led the Majors this season in hits for the second consecutive year, becoming the first player to accomplish that feat (excluding 2020) since Whit Merrifield did so for the Royals from 2018-19. Witt Jr. also led the Majors with 47 doubles in 2025.
Witt Jr. has already been recognized this offseason with a Rawlings Platinum Glove Award, a Rawlings Gold Glove Award, a Silver Slugger Award and was named First Team All-MLB at shortstop.
Cameron was named Royals Pitcher of the Year as a rookie, becoming the first pitcher to earn the honor in his first Major League season since Brad Keller in 2018. Cameron went 9-7 with a 2.99 ERA (46 ER in 138.1 IP) in 24 starts with Kansas City, the lowest mark among American League rookies in 2025 (min. 20 starts). He also ranked among rookie leaders in WHIP (1.10, 1st), win percentage (.563, 1st), opponents’ average (.214, 1st), on-base percentage (.279, 1st), OPS (.641, 1st), groundball double plays (14, 1st), quality starts (10, T-1st), slugging percentage (.361, T-1st) and wins (9, T-3rd).
Cameron’s 2.99 ERA was the 3rd lowest by an American League first-year pitcher in the Wild Card Era (since 1995), trailing only Masahiro Tanaka (2.77 in 2024) and Tanner Bibee (2.98 in 2023). It was the 3rd-lowest mark by a Rookie rookie (min. 20 starts), behind Royals Hall of Famers Paul Splittorff (2.68 in 1971) and Kevin Appier (2.76 in 1990).
Garcia was named the Special Achievement Award winner for the second time in three seasons. He’s the sixth Royal to win the award multiple times, joining Frank White (1981-82, 1988), Willie Wilson (1980, 1982), Jeff Montgomery (1989, 1997), Alcides Escobar (2012, 2015) and Mike Moustakas (2015, 2017).
Garcia was named an All-Star in 2025 for the first time, won his first career Rawlings Gold Glove at third base and was a finalist for the Silver Slugger Award at the utility position. He set career highs in games (160), hits (170), doubles (39), home runs (16), RBI (74), on-base percentage (.351), slugging percentage (.449) and OPS (.800). Garcia in 2025 became the first third baseman (min. 75% of games at the position) in Royals history to record at least 15 HR and 20 steals in a season.