White Sox broadcaster on why he’d take Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. over Shohei Ohtani

Pity the Royals fan who turned off the television or radio after the seventh inning of Monday night’s game against the White Sox.

The Royals trailed by three heading into the eighth inning, then put up a six-spot thanks to contributions from a half-dozen players. It was capped by shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.’s grand slam that turned a one-run deficit into an 8-5 victory.

Royals teammate Adam Frazier said not everyone would have hit that pitch over the fence.

“(White Sox pitcher John) Brebbia actually made a pretty good pitch,” said Frazier, who was on second base at the time. “It was painted down even more so below the zone than painted (on the corner). But Bobby put a heck of a swing on it, and he just caps it off of those two spectacular plays in the ninth . So, you know, we’re glad he’s on our side.”

Witt had several highlights from just the eighth and ninth innings on Monday.

In the White Sox broadcast booth, former Cy Young Award winner Steve Stone raved about Witt. Stone said if he was building a team, he’d take Witt over Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani.

“Look, I know that there’s a guy in Los Angeles signed for 700 million, and there’s no doubt that Ohtani is a wonderful player,” said Stone, who has been a broadcaster for more than 35 years. “I’d rather have Bobby Witt Jr. Well, No. 1 is because you’ve got yourself a shortstop, which is a man in the middle of just about everything. You have a guy that hits maybe just as well as Ohtani. He doesn’t have the power of Ohtani. No doubt about it. Obviously, he’s not going to pitch. But this guy is going to play every day for you and he’s going to play in the field at a critical position. You try to win anything in this game without a shortstop, you’re not going to win.

“I mean it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other. A lot of people would say that Ohtani’s bat and the fact that he can pitch would put him above. For me, I want that guy, because in all the time I’ve seen that guy right there, he has never dogged one step. Never. Anywhere. And that play just made from shortstop, there are not many guys in baseball anywhere that could make that play.”

Fellow White Sox broadcaster John Schriffen said he couldn’t argue with Stone.

“He’s a just magnificent player,” Stone added. “I understand he’s even a better human being than he is a baseball player, which is saying something, and he’s put on a showcase tonight. Every aspect of the game.”

X (formerly Twitter) user TKoppe22 shared that clip.