{"id":2488615,"date":"2026-07-05T01:57:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2488615"},"modified":"2026-07-05T01:57:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:57:04","slug":"bobby-witt-jr-voted-as-al-starter-in-2026-all-star-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/bobby-witt-jr-voted-as-al-starter-in-2026-all-star-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Bobby Witt Jr. voted as AL starter in 2026 All-Star Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Bobby Witt Jr. will represent the Kansas City Royals in the 2026 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And this time, he will do so as a starter.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Witt, 26, was selected by a fan vote for the July 14 game at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. He will be making his third consecutive appearance<\/a> in the Midsummer Classic after two stints as an All-Star reserve.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an honor just being able to get this opportunity,\u201d Witt said. \u201cAnd then I\u2019m just thankful for all the fans and everyone who voted in this situation. It\u2019s amazing. And being able to share it with teammates was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

MLB announced the All-Star Game rosters<\/a> on Saturday. Witt earned more votes than Toronto Blue Jays standout Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez. As a result, Witt will start at shortstop during the annual showcase.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

During the voting process, Witt received key updates from his parents as they kept track of the ever-changing ballot.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., left, tags out Boston Red Sox second baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa during a game on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, at Kauffman Stadium. Dominick Williams dowilliams@kcstar.com<\/span> <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI just went based off what my mom was saying,\u201d Witt said. \u201cI didn\u2019t really look at it at all. She was saying, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re leading in the vote,\u2019 and this and that.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This season, Witt owns a .290 batting average with 12 home runs and 36 RBIs in 82 games. He leads all AL players with a 4.8 bWAR (Baseball Reference\u2019s Wins Above Replacement) despite missing six games<\/a> with a right-knee sprain.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Witt will be the third Royals shortstop to start an All-Star Game, joining Freddie Patek (1978) and Alcides Escobar (2015).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an honor to be able to get announced in the starting lineup,\u201d Witt said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a difficult year for the Royals, but Witt has produced many memorable moments<\/a> in the first half of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On May 9, he hit an inside-the-park home run<\/a> against the Detroit Tigers. He raced around the bases in 14.13 seconds \u2014 the fourth fastest home-to-home time in the Statcast Era.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Later, Witt eclipsed 800 career hits and 400 RBIs. He also leads the AL with 29 stolen bases in 33 attempts.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the guys you want other people to emulate,\u201d Royals manager Matt Quatraro said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

So now Witt returns to the national stage. He starred in the 2024 T-Mobile Home Run Derby<\/a> and the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Most evaluators list Witt among the top young superstars in the game.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a chance Witt garners MVP consideration. He is in the mix alongside fellow AL All-Stars Yordan Alvarez and Junior Caminero, among others.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\"Kansas
Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. symbolically brushes dirt off his shoulder after hitting a double against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at Kauffman Stadium. Dominick Williams dowilliams@kcstar.com<\/span> <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was fired up, which is awesome,\u201d Witt said of the All-Star reception. \u201cAnd it\u2019s always great to see smiles on the guys\u2019 faces. And like I said, it\u2019s great, but now you move on and get ready for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Witt has done it all during his short All-Star career. The only things left would be earning All-Star Game MVP honors and winning the Home Run Derby.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Witt was noncommittal about potentially participating in the Home Run Derby again in the future.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably not,\u201d Witt said of possibly taking part this year. \u201cI would do it again eventually, maybe, at some point. But probably not this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Teammate Michael Wacha, the club\u2019s steady right-handed starting pitcher, was also named to the AL All-Star squad on Saturday. It will be Wacha\u2019s first All-Star appearance since 2015, when he garnered the honor with the St. Louis Cardinals.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This story was originally published July 4, 2026 at 6:43 PM.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Related Stories from Kansas City Star<\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \"Profile
\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n

Jaylon Thompson<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Kansas City Star<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p><\/div>\n

Jaylon Thompson covers the Royals for The Kansas City Star. He previously covered the 2021 World Series and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jaylon is a proud alumnus of the University of Georgia.<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.kansascity.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bobby Witt Jr. will represent the Kansas City Royals in the 2026 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. And this time, he will do so as a starter. Witt, 26, was selected by a fan vote for the July 14 game at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. He will be making his third consecutive appearance in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2488616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2488615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Bobby-Witt-Jr-voted-as-AL-starter-in-2026-All-Star.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2488615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2488615"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2488615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2488617,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2488615\/revisions\/2488617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2488616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2488615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2488615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2488615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}