Bobby Witt Jr.'s out-of-this-world July puts MVP on the table: Breaking down the numbers for Royals superstar

George Brett remains the only Royal to ever be named MVP

By Matt Snyder Aug 1, 2024 at 11:08 am ET• 2 min read

Royals superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. just had one of the best months of July in MLB history for a position player. 

Witt played in 23 games in July with exactly 100 plate appearances. He hit .489/.520/.833. Yes, math majors, that's a cool 1.353 OPS in a month of baseball. Let these counting stats wash over you while, again, remembering it was only 23 games (the All-Star break stole a week of playing time): 44 hits, eight doubles, a triple, seven homers, 22 RBI and 26 runs. 

On the season, Witt is hitting .349/.396/.596 (171 OPS+) with 30 doubles, 10 triples, 19 homers, 76 RBI, 91 runs and 7.0 WAR. He leads the majors in hits, runs, average and WAR (Fangraphs' version; he's second to Aaron Judge in Baseball Reference's version). 

Where the conversation gets really interesting is the MVP race. The only Royals MVP ever was George Brett in 1980. It looks like Witt's chief competition for the award will be Judge, who won MVP in 2022. The Yankees have the most MVPs in MLB history with 21. Their markets couldn't be more different.