Witt, Lugo earn Royals' first Gold Gloves since 2021
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KANSAS CITY -- Two Royals are golden for the first time in their careers.
Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and pitcher Seth Lugo took home Rawlings Gold Glove Awards at their respective positions in the American League this season, as announced Sunday night on ESPN. It’s the first career Gold Glove for both Witt and Lugo and the first time Kansas City has had a Gold Glove winner since 2021, when left fielder Andrew Benintendi and center fielder Michael A. Taylor won awards at their positions.
Witt is just the second Royals shortstop to win the award behind Alcides Escobar in 2015. Only one other Royals pitcher had won a Gold Glove before Lugo: Bret Saberhagen in 1989.
The two Royals are among the 14 first-time winners of this year’s Gold Glove group -- tied for most in a single year with 2022 (the first year that the utility Gold Glove was awarded).
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Witt beat out the Yankees’ Anthony Volpe (who won the award last year) and the Guardians’ Brayan Rocchio at AL shortstop. Witt led all AL shortstops with +16 Outs Above Average in 2024, which was tied with Francisco Lindor for second-best among MLB shortstops. According to Statcast, Witt prevented 12 runs.
The 24-year-old was a stalwart at shortstop this season, playing 160 games at the position and logging 1,393 2/3 innings while committing 15 errors. He served as the Royals’ designated hitter just one day this season and had one day off the entire regular season, which came on Sept. 28, the day after the Royals clinched their first postseason berth since 2015.
“His desire and his ability to be out there pretty much every day is a big deal, and when your best players are in the middle of the field, like we have with him and [catcher Salvador Perez], that’s a big thing for a team and organization,” manager Matt Quatraro said.
Witt struggled defensively during his 2022 rookie season, and he wasn’t a Gold Glove finalist last year despite the huge strides he took with his glove. But as the Royals' shortstop established himself as one of the best hitters in the game, he’s also become one of the best defenders in the game.
Not only can Witt be a perennial All-Star and even MVP candidate, but he should be firmly in the conversation for more Gold Gloves as his career progresses.
“Once I started to talk to Bobby and understand how he works, and how he thinks, I think the most impressive part was just his desire to get better and his willingness to accept he wasn’t a finished product,” Quatraro said. “That’s what’s pretty exciting, that he’s still got room to grow. But he’s come quite a long way as we’ve known him. This award is just a real feather in his cap, but also, I think it’s going to be more incentive for him to keep growing.”
Lugo beat out teammate Cole Ragans and Angels righty Griffin Canning for the AL pitcher’s Gold Glove. Lugo and Ragans helped the Royals have one of the best rotations in baseball in 2024, but they also both fielded their position well. Lugo, who turns 35 on Nov. 17, didn’t commit an error this year and was one of 10 AL pitchers to finish with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage and make 30-plus starts. Lugo covered more innings (206 2/3) than anyone in that group.
According to FanGraphs, Lugo recorded a career-best five defensive runs saved, one shy of Cleveland's Tanner Bibee among AL pitchers.
Going into Spring Training this season, the Royals put more emphasis on their pitchers’ fielding practice, emphasizing to players how important it is to be well-rounded on the field. It’s easy for pitchers to forget about fielding drills.
But Lugo led the charge, all spring and all season.
“From Day One, [Royals pitching coaches] were saying, ‘This guy’s the best guy we’ve got,’ and he was the standard that everybody else was trying to live up to,” Quatraro said. “He did all the drills well. He took them seriously. He’s been a good athlete in the past and in other sports, so none of that really surprises me, but the consistency with which he went about the work and fielding his position and stuff was really fun to watch.”
The Royals have won 22 Gold Gloves since 2011, which is the most in the Majors across that span. Catcher Freddy Fermin was a finalist for the AL Gold Glove this year but lost to Seattle’s Cal Raleigh.
The 29-year-old Fermin played 91 games at catcher this year (72 starts as Perez’s backup) and caught 17-of-38 attempted basestealers (45%), the highest rate among all Major League catchers. His eight Catcher’s CS Above Average, according to Statcast, was best among qualified AL catchers.