Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.’s sensational 2024 season continued on Tuesday when he made MLB history in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers.

After issuing a walk in his first at-bat of the game, Witt demonstrated his speed by stealing second base for his 30th stolen bag of the year. In doing so, Witt reached the 30-30 club for the second consecutive year and became the first shortstop in league history to record multiple 30-home run and 30-steal seasons in his career.

Witt accomplished this feat in just the third season of his career, which makes the accomplishment even more impressive. Although all the great shortstops have competed in the past, none have managed to match Witt’s combination of strength in the batter’s box and speed on the base paths.

To put his accomplishment in perspective, only five other shortstops in league history have ever recorded a 30-30 season, including Barry Larkin (1996), Alex Rodriguez (1998), Jimmy Rollins (2007), Hanley Ramirez (2008) and Francisco Lindor (2023). Witt has now done it twice in his first three seasons.

This year, Witt has hit 32 home runs and stolen 30 bases. He has a .332/.384/.600 batting average with 108 RBIs and a league-best 200 hits, earning his first All-Star Game appearance. During his breakout season last year, he hit 30 home runs and stole 49 bases.

The future looks bright for Kansas City as long as Witt mans the shortstop position, which he has proven early and often in his young career.