By Goody Tate
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The Kansas City Royals announced this afternoon that infielder Bobby Witt Jr. and right-handed pitcher Brady Singer have been named Royals Player and Pitcher of the Month, respectively, for July. The awards are determined by a local media vote.
Witt Jr. recorded a hit in 22 of his 23 games in July, during which he led the Majors in fWAR (2.7), hits (44), runs (26), total bases (75), batting average (.489), on-base pct. (.520) and OPS (1.353). His 44 hits in July were 10 more than the next-closest players, and were the most by a Royal in any month since Johnny Damon had 47 hits in August 2000. His .489 average in July was the 2nd highest in any month in franchise history (min. 50 plate appearances), trailing only George Brett, who hit .494 (42-for-85) in July 1980. Witt Jr. is the first Major League player to record at least 44 hits and a .489 batting average in any month since Lou Gehrig in June 1930. He finished the month with an active 13-game hit streak, which is his fourth double-digit hit streak of the season, and with his 20th home run of the season in the 8th inning last night, he extended the run to a career-high-tying 14 straight games. Witt Jr. recorded 3 hits in 4 consecutive games from July 19-22—the final game of which he fell just a single shy of hitting for the cycle—which matched Damon (July 18-21, 2000) for the 2nd-longest such streak in franchise history, trailing only Brett, who had 6 straight games with 3 hits from May 8-13, 1976. He participated in the 2024 Home Run Derby in Arlington, Texas, where he fell just shy of the crown despite hitting a Derby-most and Royals club-record 50 home runs. The following night, he participated in his 1st career All-Star Game at Globe Life Field. In his first series out of the break, he went 9-for-11 with 3 extra-base hits, earning American League Player of the Week honors for July 15-21, which marked his second career award following May 20-26 of this year. This unanimous selection marks Witt Jr.’s second monthly honor of the season (also May) and the sixth of his career, already tied for the 6th most by a Royals position player since the award was established in 1995.
Singer went 4-2 with a 2.27 ERA (9 ER in 35.2 IP) over 6 starts in July, and won each of his final 3 outings to finish the month. He spun 4 quality starts, pitching 7.0 innings in each, including a 1-run outing on July 7 at Colorado, 7.0 scoreless frames on July 20 vs. the White Sox and July 26 vs. the Cubs, and 7.0 innings of 3-run ball on July 31 at the White Sox. The runs he allowed in the 2nd inning of his final start of the month snapped a 15.2-inning scoreless streak, which marked his longest such streak of the season and spanned parts of 3 starts. Singer’s back-to-back scoreless starts marked the second time in his career that he’s recorded 7.0 scoreless innings in consecutive outings, and he’s just the fifth pitcher in Royals history to record multiple streaks of 7.0-scoreless-inning starts, following Kevin Appier (4), Bret Saberhagen (3), Larry Gura (2) and Paul Splittorff (2). Including his 7.0 frames to close out the month, he became the first Royal to record 3 consecutive starts of at least 7.0 innings since Brad Keller did so in 3 straight starts in 2019. He was one of just eight pitchers to record at least 35.0 innings last month, and his 2.27 ERA trailed only Seattle’s George Kirby (2.21) in that group. This marks Singer’s sixth career monthly honor and his first since winning the award in three consecutive months from July-September/October 2022. His six career selections match Wade Davis for the 6th most by a Royals pitcher since the award was established in 1995.
COURTESY ROYALS MEDIA RELATIONS
