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BOBBY WITT JR. NAMED BASEBALL AMERICA’S MINOR LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Bobby Witt Jr. becomes the fourth Royal and second Natural to receive Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year award. (Alan Jamison)
By Naturals PR Department
October 4, 2021

SPRINGDALE, Ark – On the 40th Anniversary of the first Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year award, the publication has announced its’ most recent recipient of the honor, 2021 Naturals infielder and Kansas City Royals No. 1 prospect Bobby Witt Jr. Witt Jr. is the fourth Royals player

SPRINGDALE, Ark – On the 40th Anniversary of the first Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year award, the publication has announced its’ most recent recipient of the honor, 2021 Naturals infielder and Kansas City Royals No. 1 prospect Bobby Witt Jr.

Witt Jr. is the fourth Royals player to have won the award, following RHP Tom Gordon (1998), 3B Alex Gordon (2006) and OF Wil Myers (2012). Like Witt Jr., Myers won the award after starting the season in Northwest Arkansas before receiving a promotion to Triple-A Omaha to finish the season.

The Colleyville, Texas, native played his first 61 games of this year with the Naturals, hitting .295 (72-for-24) with 16 home runs and 51 runs batted in. At the time of his promotion to the Omaha Storm Chasers on July 18, Witt Jr. led all of Double-A with 137 total bases and led the Double-A Central with 50 runs batted in.

Taken with the second overall selection in the 2019 MLB Draft, Witt Jr. continued to excel in his first season of professional baseball once promoted to Triple-A Omaha. Across 123 games between Double-A and Triple-A, he has maintained a .290 batting average (144-for-497) while stealing 29 bases and leading Minor League Baseball in extra-base hits (72). The 21-year-old ranks second in the Minors in total bases (286) and runs scored (99), fourth in home runs (33) and runs batted in (97) and fifth in hits.

2021 marks the 40th anniversary of the first Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year award in 1981, first baseman Mike Marshall of the Albuquerque Duke (Dodgers). Other previous winners of the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year award include Hall of Famer Frank Thomas, Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, Mike Trout (2011, Arkansas Travelers) and many other players who have gone on to successful careers in Major League Baseball.