Bobby Witt Jr. is lining up for another Gold Glove, and MLB.com has the Royals shortstop as the favorite to take home the AL award at his position.
If that happens, it would be Witt’s third straight Gold Glove, and there’s a strong case that this has been his sharpest defensive season yet. He has 23 Outs Above Average, matching his 2025 total and tying the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong for the most in the Majors this season.
Under Statcast, only three shortstops have ever reached 25 OAA in a single season, and nobody has done it since Nicky Lopez did it with the Royals in 2021. Witt has a real shot to become the fourth.
The Royals’ move toward downtown also brought another old civic debate back into focus, with Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas revisiting the history of funding for the Power & Light District. The city is still paying that bill years later.
Lucas’ point cuts both ways. It supports the idea that the Royals stadium project can get done even with opposition pushing for a vote, but it also leaves room for the other side’s argument: maybe the concern about whether the city can afford it is legitimate.
That skepticism isn’t new. Funkhouser had warned the project would not deliver the economic windfall that was promised and would end up costing the city money. Later, when the project fell short and the city had to cover the gap from its general fund, he said he wasn’t surprised.
On the roster side, Royals Keep’s Kevin O’Brien dug into Nick Loftin’s place heading into next season, especially if Maikel Garcia returns healthy. Loftin has been one of the club’s better surprises, but O’Brien argues he still hasn’t done enough to push Garcia aside, particularly after the team’s financial commitment to Garcia last year. There’s also the defensive wrinkle: Garcia and Loftin both have seen their gloves suffer when they move around the diamond.
Still, Loftin’s case isn’t going away. He’ll remain pre-arbitration next year, so he’ll be inexpensive, and he showed this season that he can matter for Kansas City when his timing is right and the bat is working. His home run in the Marlins series was another reminder that his offensive profile can play at Kauffman Stadium.
Craig Kimbrel’s run in Kansas City also drew a fresh look after Monday’s blowup. Through his first nine appearances with the Royals, he logged nine innings, gave up only three hits and three walks, and struck out six.
Before Monday, his lone blemish was one unearned run in his previous outing, which came in a Royals loss to the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend. The expectation level was low when Kansas City added him, and the results were enough to make his stint a surprise.
That said, the ninth outing turned into the one that kept it from being a clean run.
Down in High-A, David Shields is putting together a season that has turned plenty of heads. Royals Keep’s Mike Gillespie called him a hot Royals prospect, and the numbers back it up.
Kansas City already views him as its second-best prospect, and he led qualified Midwest League starters in wins with 11, strikeouts with 139, and WHIP with 1.08. He also walked fewer batters than any other qualified starter with 28, tied for the league lead in starts with 25, and was one of only four starters to work more than 100 innings, finishing at 116 2/3.
The deeper metrics are just as strong. According to ProspectSavant, Shields posted a 6.0 BB% that landed in the 90th percentile, a 34.46 chase rate in the 88th, a 29.7% strikeout rate, a 4.96 K/BB ratio, and an 88th-percentile 23.7% K-BB%.
Elsewhere, CBS Sports’ Matt Snyder moved the Royals down to 26th in this week’s power rankings, after having them at 20th. Fantrax also released its top 20 Royals prospects for fantasy baseball.
Around the league, the Athletics are another AL club sagging through the summer. Former Boston Red Sox manager Joe Morgan died at 95.
CBS Sports’ Julian McWilliams examined Kristian Campbell’s regression after he was once viewed as the golden child of player development. Lance Brozdowski looked at the split paths of two breakout pitchers from earlier in the summer, and there was also a look at how catcher setup affects pitch outcomes using OpenCommand data.
Milwaukee Brewers farmhand Thomas Pannone threw the first minor-league perfect nine-inning game since 2017. The Yankees activated Aaron Judge from the injured list, 99 days after his last MLB game.
The Tigers are set to honor Justin Verlander later this month, though questions remain about whether he has any magic left before retirement. On the football side, one running back can indeed get too many carries in a season, the Patriots reportedly made Christian Gonzalez the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback with a four-year, $135 million deal, the league’s London plans are drawing criticism over unsold tickets and cost, the transfer portal is affecting high school quarterbacks, and Collin Klein’s head coaching debut went as well as it could have.
In Other News...
Royals Still Have One Unsettled Infield Spot After Latest Veteran Move
The Royals made another infield adjustment this week by releasing Brandon Drury, a veteran with a decade of big league experience and a Silver Slugger on his rsum. Drury had signed a minor league deal with Kansas City over the offseason, but his time in the organization never really gained traction after a rough offensive stretch in Triple-A.
Brandon Drurys departure also leaves the Royals still sorting out one of the remaining spots on the infield depth chart, which has become a quiet but important subplot around the club. Kansas City has already been looking for stability on the dirt, and moving on from a player with Drurys track record suggests the competition for that role is still very much open. [Read more 🡒]
Jac Caglianone Injury Renews A Royals Fear They Can't Ignore
Jac Caglianones latest scare came in a game on Sept. 5, when he suffered a Grade 1 left flexor strain in his elbow, an injury the Royals do not expect will force him onto the injured list. Manager Matt Quatraro said the issue is low grade, which gives Kansas City some room to take a more aggressive recovery approach and avoid losing the young slugger for an extended stretch.
Even with that encouraging diagnosis, the bigger concern around Caglianone is no longer just the immediate timetable. Each new injury flares up the same uneasy question for the Royals about how durable he can be over the long run, and how much uncertainty they can afford around a player they hope can become a central part of the lineup. [Read more 🡒]
Diamondbacks Survived A Wild Road Finish Fans Will Be Talking About
Corbin Burnes is set to make his return to the majors tonight against the Royals, giving Kansas City a familiar kind of challenge in the middle of a season full of moving parts. It will be Burnes first appearance since June 2025, and for a Royals lineup that has had to work its way through plenty of pitching matchups already, the timing adds another layer to an already important stretch.
Around the rest of the league, the day brought a few notable returns and standout outings, including Aaron Judge being activated from the 60-day injured list and expected back for the Yankees against the Rockies after a rib injury. The Phillies also got a huge lift from Jesus Luzardo, who tossed a complete-game shutout with 12 strikeouts to help them split their series with the Braves, a reminder that the nightly rhythm of the race keeps shifting just as Kansas City prepares for Burnes. [Read more 🡒]