Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. says Derek Jeter 'was my guy' – despite Red Sox allegiance

Gary Phillips, New York Daily News on Oct 4, 2024

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NEW YORK — As Bobby Witt Jr. talked to a room full of reporters at Yankee Stadium on Friday, a larger-than-life Derek Jeter, pictured in a blown-up Sports Illustrated cover hanging on the wall, smiled in the young shortstop’s direction.

As Witt spoke, he revealed that “Jeter was my guy” growing up, even though he rooted for the Red Sox due to his father’s Massachusetts roots. Bobby Witt Sr. didn’t play in his first postseason game until his seventh major league season, and he pitched for the Diamondbacks when they beat the Yankees in the 2001 World Series.

The younger Witt, a third-year pro, recently made his playoff debut when his Royals beat the Orioles in the wild-card round.

On Saturday, Witt will play in his first postseason game in the Bronx when the Yankees host Kansas City. It will be a grand stage for the 24-year-old batting champ, who is also the presumed MVP runner-up behind Aaron Judge.

“Definitely going to take it all in because everyone talks about playoff baseball in New York,” said Witt, who hit .332/.389/.588 with 45 doubles, 11 triples, 32 homers, 109 RBIs and 31 stolen bases. “So it’s going to be pretty special just being out here and just hearing the crowd and just how much history is behind here and everything. Just going to take it all in and enjoy it.”

Witt added that he tuned into plenty of Yankees playoffs games as a kid, which meant witnessing lots of Jeter highlights. Witt said he was “always watching” what the former Yankees captain did.

Now he’s looking forward to taking the same field at the same position Jeter once played.

“That’s pretty special,” Witt said. “Was watching his postseason highlights recently actually, and just being able to take the field that he did is really special. Just kind of gives me chills thinking about it.”

As a Red Sox fan, Witt also idolized Dustin Pedroia. He wore No. 17 in high school, the sum of Jeter’s No. 2 and Pedroia’s No. 15. He has both players’ jerseys hanging in his childhood bedroom back home.

Asked what he admired about the two World Series champs, Witt replied, “How they just played the game hard and how they always would rise up to the occasion when needed.”

Now Witt has a chance to do the same with the spotlight on him in New York.

“When you think of postseason baseball, you kind of think it’s going to be in New York somehow, some shape, some fashion,” Witt said. “So really being able to come out here and bringing the Royals out here and doing this is going to be a lot of fun.”