The Chicago White Sox have plenty of holes on the field to fill in 2024.
Now they’ll have another one in the TV broadcast booth.
Jason Benetti, who replaced Ken “Hawk” Harrelson as the TV voice of the Sox on NBC Sports Chicago eight years ago, was signed by the Detroit Tigers to do a minimum 127 games for Bally Sports.
“I’m incredibly proud to join this historic and ascending Tigers franchise,” Benetti said in a statement. “From every single person I talked with throughout the interview process it was clear why so many respected professionals and creative people have joined the organization in the last several years. There’s something special about it, and I’m excited to bring that energy to Tigers fans around the globe.”
Benetti, 40, who grew up a Sox fan in Homewood and attended Homewood-Flossmoor High School, said after interviewing with the Tigers it was “clear this was the right place” for him.
“I was born and raised in the Midwest and understand how important sports are, especially here in the Motor City,” he said.
The news was bittersweet for Sox fans who’ve enjoyed the unique relationship between Benetti and longtime color man Steve Stone, which is equal parts entertainment and play-by-play. Doing Sox games was his dream job going back to his grade school days in Homewood.
“I would like to be the White Sox sportscaster,” he once wrote in a classroom assignment. “As long as I don’t look like Harry Caray.”
It seemed like a pipe dream at the time. Having cerebral palsy was supposed to be an obstacle, but Benetti honed his craft at Syracuse and as a minor-league baseball announcer before moving to the Sox. After a stint with ESPN, he moved to Fox last year and has been one of the nation’s top sportscasters in college football and basketball.
“I love learning from coaches and watching practices and seeing the leadership,” he told the Tribune in 2020. “There’s a lot of life lessons in that, too, and I grew up loving to do games. That’s where my heart is.”
Brooks Boyer, chief revenue and marketing office of the White Sox, said in a statement that the allowed Benetti a chance to explore the opportunity with the Tigers, and was “proud to see Jason continue to live out his dream” to broadcast baseball. Benetti also broadcasts other sports, and is one of the top college football announcers for Fox.
Boyer said radio voice Len Kasper, who has a long background in TV including with the Chicago Cubs, would not move into the booth alongside Stone, and the search for a new TV play-by-play man to partner with Stone has begun.
Harrelson, who said over the summer he never retired from the Sox but “got retired,” is not expected to be a candidate.