Kansas City

Royals

It’s the first of what should be many All-Star nominations for the 24-year-old superstar shortstop. Witt has been outstanding this season, slashing .324/.372/.564 with 15 homers, 61 RBI, 72 runs scored and 22 stolen bases. He’ll be joined on the American League squad by fellow reserves Salvador Perez, Carlos Correa, Rafael Devers, Marcus Semien, Kyle Tucker, Josh Naylor, Isaac Paredes, Jarren Duran, Riley Greene and David Fry.

Witt slumped just a bit over the second half of June, but he’s now collected 15 hits, including three homers, in his last seven games, pushing his OPS back up to .936. He’s second in the majors with a .324 average and tied for second with 72 runs scored.

Singer has allowed exactly one run in four straight outings, taking his ERA back down to 2.93. An easy stretch of the schedule has helped, though he did have the nice outing today at Coors Field. The victory is his first since May 18, as he evened his record at 5-5.

Garcia’s last stint of being dropped from the leadoff spot lasted two games, so we’ll see if this one is any longer. He’s been quite a disappointment for the Royals this season, though not really for fantasy purposes with his 21 steals, 52 runs scored and 40 RBI. It’s big for his fantasy value that he lead off, though, and since the Royals aren’t moving Bobby Witt Jr. or Vinnie Pasquantino up to that spot, Garcia probably remains the team’s best option. Adam Frazier got the nod there today and went 0-for-4.

Pasquantino’s sixth-inning blast off Rockies starter Austin Gomber was his 11th deep fly of the season and represented the lone run for Kansas City in a rare low-scoring affair at Coors Field. The 26-year-old first baseman is batting .305 (18-for-59) with four homers and 13 RBI over his last 15 games.

Lugo fell behind early when he surrendered a two-run homer to Rockies emerging star Brenton Doyle in the second inning. He managed to limit the damage to just a run-scoring single by Ryan McMahon in the fifth-inning, but it was enough to saddle him with a loss for just the third time this year. The 34-year-old righty is tied with Braves ace Chris Sale with a major league-leading 11 wins this season to accompany a sparkling 2.21 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 110/29 K/BB ratio across 122 innings (19 starts). There’s some regression looming, but he’s been a revelation this season in his Kansas City debut. He’ll wrap up the first half on Saturday with a road matchup against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Someone needed to get the boot from the Royals’ 40-man roster to make room for the triumphant return of Kris Bubic (elbow) on Saturday and unfortunately Selby drew the short straw this time around. There’s a decent chance that he’ll slip through waivers unclaimed and continue to function as extra bullpen depth at Triple-A Omaha.

Pennington, 26, made his big-league debut with the Royals on Friday night, retiring both of the batters that he faced including a strikeout. He was sent out this time to make room on the team’s active roster for the return of Kris Bubic (elbow) from the 60-day IL. He’ll bide his time at Triple-A until the Royals need another left-hander in their bullpen.

The 26-year-old southpaw will work out of the Royals’ bullpen for the time being as he continues to work his way back from Tommy John surgery. Bubic logged 35 2/3 innings on his minor league rehab assignment, registering a 3.53 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and a 42/13 K/BB ratio. Walter Pennington was optioned to Triple-A Omaha in a corresponding move on Saturday.

Witt Jr. has doubled 25 times in 2024, and he came around to score after his two-bagger Friday on a single by Salvador Perez. He came up just short in the All-Star voting, but barring something completely unforeseeable he’ll definitely be involved in the game with a slash of .321/.371/.559 over his 90 games.