Bobby Witt Jr. named the Kansas City Royals’ George Brett Award winner

The minor-league season hasn’t concluded yet, but Kansas City Royals highly-regarded top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. has already garnered one prestigious honor.

Witt won the organization’s George Brett Hitter of the Year Award as the top position player in their farm system. Right-hander Jackson Kowar earned the organization’s Paul Splittorff Pitcher of the Year Award as the top pitcher in the Royals’ farm system.

The Royals announced those awards on Friday afternoon. Witt, currently playing for Triple-A Omaha, and Kowar, who is currently on the major-league roster, will receive their awards prior to next Friday’s game against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals have not yet announced the players of the year and pitchers of the year for each of the individual minor-league affiliates.

Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com both ranked Witt the No. 3 prospect in the minor leagues.

The No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, Witt is finishing his first full season of professional baseball after he played in just 37 games in 2019 and spent last summer at the Royals’ alternate training site.

Witt, 21, began this season with Double-A Northwest Arkansas before earning a promotion to Triple-A in July. He also represented the Royals in the MLB All-Star Futures Game as part of MLB’s All-Star week in Denver, Colorado.

Entering Friday night, Witt led all minor-league players with 71 extra-base hits, ranked second in RBIs (94) and total bases (279), third in home runs (32) and fourth in runs scored (95) through 117 total games.

Witt became the first Royals minor-league player to record at least 20 home runs and at least 20 stolen bases in a season since Alex Gordon in 2006 with the Double-A Wichita Wranglers.

Kowar, ranked No. 75 by Baseball America and No. 86 by MLBPipeline.com, made his major-league debut in June of this season.

The right hander selected No. 33 overall in the 2018 MLB Draft had been dominant for much of the year with Triple-A Omaha. Prior to his first promotion to the majors, Kowar went 5-0 with a 0.85 ERA and a .165 opponents’ average in six starts.

He went back down to the minors after he struggled in his first three appearances (two starts) in the majors, and he has made his last four starts for the Royals since being recalled.

Kowar, 24, made 17 appearances (16 starts) in the minors this season and went 9-4 with a 3.46 ERA, 115 strikeouts (fifth-most strikeouts among all Triple-A), 34 walks and a .220 opponents’ batting average in 80 2/3 innings.