MLB.com names Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. as the favorite to win this year’s AL Gold Glove at shortstop.
Witt seems poised to win his third consecutive Gold Glove Award, and this may very well end up as his best defensive season yet. He’s accumulated 23 Outs Above Average, which equals his total from 2025 and matches the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong for the most in the Majors this season. Only three shortstops have recorded at least 25 OAA in a single season under Statcast, and no one
has done so since Nicky Lopez achieved that total with the Royals in 2021. Witt could certainly become the fourth.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas looks back to the history of funding the Power & Light District as the Royals look to move downtown, considering the city is still footing the bill years later.
While Lucas’s argument shows the city can and likely will get the Royals stadium project done despite opposition pursuing a vote on it, he also opened the door for a different reality — the opposition is right to question if the city can pay for it.
That’s because Funkhouser’s warnings about the project were ultimately correct. He said the city’s projected economic boon would not come to fruition and the project would be costly to the city.
When he was mayor, Funkhouser said he wasn’t surprised when the project started to come up short a few years later and required the city to cover the shortfall from its general fund.
Royals Keep’s Kevin O’Brien ponders Nick Loftin’s role next season in Kansas City, especially with a (hopeful) healthy return for Maikel Garcia.
So while Loftin has been a nice surprise, he hasn’t been good enough to supplant Garcia, especially given the financial commitment the team made to Garcia last year. Furthermore, Garcia, like Loftin, has shown that his defense worsens when he moves around the field.
However, Kansas City still needs to find Loftin a role in 2027. He will still be in pre-arbitration next year, which means he will be cheap. Furthermore, he proved this year that he can be a key piece for this Royals team, boosting the lineup when he’s locked in and seeing the ball well. His home run from the Marlins series shows that he has the hitting profile to succeed somewhat at Kauffman Stadium.
After Craig Kimbrel’s blowup performance on Monday, Craig Brown looks at his body of work in a Royals uniform.
I’m not ashamed to admit that Craig Kimbrel’s tenure with the Royals has been…I believe the word I’m searching for is intriguing. Through his first nine outings with Kansas City, Kimbrel threw nine innings, allowing just three hits and three walks against six strikeouts. He allowed one unearned run in his previous outing to Monday that resulted in a Royals loss to the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend, but otherwise, he’s been spotless.
I didn’t have hopes of any kind when the Royals brought Kimbrel onto the roster. More bullpen chum for the sharks that are MLB hitters. Then again, I haven’t had any hopes for this bullpen since the second game of the season. The relievers have flirted with rock bottom all summer. Kimbrel couldn’t be any worse. Besides, I figured he was washed. That means his success has been a pleasant surprise.
Those nine outings were very good. Unfortunately, Kimbrel couldn’t hit a perfect 10.
Royals Keep’s Mike Gillespie looks at the historic season of Royals’ teenage southpaw David Shields down in High-A.
David Shields Is A Hot Royals Prospect
An understatement? Definitely, and it’s not just because so many established prospect rankings rate him so highly — we at Royals Keep, for example, consider him Kansas City’s second-best prospect.
It’s what Shields does on the mound that makes him special.
Besides his league-best 11 wins, Shields led qualified regular-season Midwest League starters with 139 strikeouts and a 1.08 WHIP, walked fewer batters (28) than any other qualified starter, and tied Wisconsin’s Ethan Dorchies for the most starts (25). He was one of only four league starters to pitch over 100 innings (116 2/3).
There’s more. Per ProspectSavant, Shields’ stingy 6.0 BB% placed him in the 90th percentile and his 34.46 chase % in the 88th. He struck out 29.7% of the batters he faced, and ended the campaign with a 4.96 K/BB ratio and an 88th-percentile 23.7% K-BB%.
CBS Sports’ Matt Snyder has the Royals as this week’s biggest faller in the power rankings, dropping from 20th to 26th.
Fantrax releases its top 20 Royal prospects for fantasy baseball.
The Royals aren’t the only AL team wilting under the pressure this summer. Just look at the Athletics!
Condolences to the family and friends of former Boston Red Sox manager Joe Morgan, who passed away at 95.
CBS Sports’ Julian McWilliams looks at the regression of Boston Red Sox player Kristian Campbell, who was once the golden child of player development, now struggling to adjust.
Lance Brozdowski looks at the diverging paths of two breakout pitchers from earlier this summer.
How does where catchers set up the pre-pitch target influence the final per-pitch outcome? Analysis of OpenCommand’s data answers that and more.
Milwaukee Brewers farmhand Thomas Pannone throws the first minor-league perfect nine-inning game since 2017.
The New York Yankees activate slugger Aaron Judge off the injured list, 99 days since his last MLB game.
The Detroit Tigers are honoring franchise legend Justin Verlander later this month, but does the former ace have any magic left before he retires?
An NFL running back can, in fact, get too many carries in a single season.
The New England Patriots reportedly make Christian Gonzalez the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback with a four-year, $135 million contract.
The NFL is dropping the ball in London as tickets go unsold while UK fans cite issues with the slate and cost.
The transfer portal trickle-down effect is hitting high school quarterbacks.
The head coaching debut of Collin Klein went about as well as it could have.
You’ve heard of “bark in the park”, but the summer heat has “pooches in the pool” a new Kansas City area move.
AMC launches Leawood Films “to ensure that a few extra movies come to theatres each year.”
Today’s song of the day is Swingin’ by John Anderson.
