KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Royals’ left side of the diamond was good as gold in 2025.
Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and third baseman Maikel Garcia won an American League Gold Glove Award at their respective positions this season, announced Sunday night on ESPN.
It’s the first time in franchise history that the Royals’ left side of the infield has won together in the same season and just the third time that a team’s left side of the infield has won together since 2003, following the ’03 Cardinals (Scott Rolen and Edgar Renteria) and ’13 Orioles (Manny Machado and J.J. Hardy).
This is Witt’s second consecutive Gold Glove, as he becomes the first Royals player to win multiple Gold Gloves at shortstop; the only other player to win one is Alcides Escobar (2015). Garcia took home the honor for the first time in his career. He is just the second Kansas City player to win a Gold Glove at third base, joining George Brett in 1985.
Center fielder Kyle Isbel was a finalist at his position, but Boston’s Ceddanne Rafaela won the award.
Witt recorded 24 Outs Above Average this season, according to Baseball Savant, tied with Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong for best among defensive players in MLB. Witt committed 10 errors — the fewest in his career at shortstop — and posted a .983 fielding percentage, the highest of his career. Witt also logged 1,340 innings at shortstop, third most in the AL at that position behind Seattle’s J.P. Crawford (1,384 2/3 innings) and Boston’s Trevor Story (1,371 1/3).
Garcia’s 18 OAA as a third baseman this season easily led the AL at the position, 11 more than Cleveland’s José Ramírez. Garcia committed just seven errors at third base for a .980 fielding percentage across the 1,144 2/3 innings he logged at the hot corner. Additionally, Garcia recorded 13 Defensive Runs Saved as a third baseman, according to FanGraphs, second most among all players at the position behind National League Gold Glove Award winner Ke’Bryan Hayes (19), who spent the first half of the season with Pittsburgh before he was traded to Cincinnati.
Garcia recorded 17 total OAA this season, including his time at second base, shortstop and in the outfield. But he was the Royals’ best option at third base, and it did not take long for the club to recognize that and make Garcia its everyday third baseman in ’25.
As a team this season, Kansas City was charged with just 62 errors, tied with the Phillies for the fourth fewest in MLB behind the Rangers (51), Braves (54) and Cubs (61). The 62 Royals errors were a franchise low for a 162-game season and 11 fewer than the previous mark set in 2019 (73).
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