Kansas City Royals Share Bobby Witt Jr. All-Star Game Voting Update

· Yahoo Sports

Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. had a slow start to his fifth MLB season, but since then he has completely turned it around and is back to being an American League MVP candidate.

Unfortunately, he has not played since last Thursday after suffering a right knee injury while fielding a ground ball in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Fortunately, he is expected to return ahead of Friday's series opener against the Chicago White Sox.

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In his absence, the Royals have continued to slip in the standings, and it appears increasingly likely that Kansas City will not be competitive this year with or without Witt in the lineup.

Still, none of that takes away from the special season and player that Witt is. Across 76 games, he has accumulated more WAR than any other player in the American League with 4.3 bWAR.

He leads the AL in stolen bases despite missing a week. He has posted a .294 batting average, .368 on-base percentage, .833 OPS, 10 home runs and 32 RBIs. He has also continued to play the best defense up the middle at his position and is on pace to capture a third straight Gold Glove award. No player in baseball provides more of an all-around impact than him.

Fans across MLB have continued to recognize that, and on Thursday the Royals announced that Witt has advanced to Phase 2 of All-Star Game voting.

"Work's not done‼️ Bobby Witt Jr. is headed to the MLB All-Star Ballot Finals! Voting opens on June 29th!" the Royals wrote on X.

Witt will go head to head in the finals against Andres Gimenez of the Toronto Blue Jays. It may be surprising to see Gimenez on the list, but the Blue Jays have seen nearly their entire starting lineup advance based on the overwhelming support Canadian fans have shown throughout Phase 1 voting.

Statistically it is not close, and Witt is clearly the more deserving candidate. However, he will still need the votes to make it official. Phase 2 opens at 12:00 PM ET on Sunday, June 29, giving fans 72 hours to cast their ballots before voting closes at 12:00 PM ET on Thursday, July 2.

If Witt is selected, it will mark his third straight All-Star selection. Even if he somehow loses out to Gimenez, he would undoubtedly make the team as a reserve. That scenario is not expected though, given Witt finished Phase 1 with nearly 1,000,000 more votes than Gimenez.

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