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July 16, 2024
ARLINGTON — It was three years ago to the day that James Russell made his final appearance as a professional baseball player — and three years ago to the day that his son Jayce was born extremely prematurely, nearly taking the lives of his wife and child, when Russell was unable to leave Mexico, where he pitched, to return home to Texas.
On Monday, Jayce Russell was a happy, healthy little boy with only a few swallowing issues to report after the ordeal. He celebrated his third birthday with a huge crowd of family and friends cheering on his uncle Junior, who he calls “the GOAT.”
That, of course, is Bobby Witt Jr., who — with a sweat-soaked strip of hair lining his forehead at the end of a three-hour contest — crushed a final pitch deep into center field at Globe Life Field against his brother-in-law, Russell, as they competed together in the Home Run Derby as part of Witt’s family’s return to the Dallas-Fort Worth area as its first All-Star.
But that ball hit the outfield wall with a thud in left-center field and landed on the warning track.
With that, Witt fell to Derby champion Teoscar Hernández in a dramatic 14-13 final as his hometown crowd collectively gasped in disappointment — though that didn’t dampen the smiles on Witt and Russell’s faces as they talked about the new chapter in their family’s long baseball history as finalists in the 2024 T-Mobile Home Run Derby.
“A Texas-sized crowd, it was really fun to be able to do that and experience that with my brother-in-law, with my family in the stands, and to be able to make it to the finals,” Witt said. “It was awesome. Teoscar put on a great show. It was so much fun to be out there with all the guys. It’s one of those feelings you never really get. It was awesome.”
That certainly didn’t seem to deter Jayce either, they said.
“He’s excited,” said Russell, one of three sons-in-law of Bobby Witt Sr., the son of former major leaguer Jeff Russell. “He’s the biggest Bobby Jr. fan you’ll find. We watch almost every game, and whenever he sees Junior, he’s jumping up and down: ‘Bobby! Bobby! Bobby! Uncle Junior! Uncle Junior!’ It’s pretty cool. He makes my eyes light up every time.”
It was precisely for this family experience that Witt had hoped would make his first All-Star team. He is already relishing (in his quiet, unassuming way) the memories he has created as part of the honor at home in Arlington, just minutes south of where he attended Colleyville High School.
And long before the first pitch of the game, Witt narrowly missed a bigger win in what turned out to be a Texas-sized homecoming.
Adolis García, Marcell Ozuna, Gunnar Henderson and two-time Derby winner Pete Alonso were eliminated in the first round. Witt eliminated division rival José Ramírez in the semifinals, 17-12, while Hernández beat Alec Bohm in a tiebreaker, 16-15, in the other semifinal.
Witt, 24, nearly became the first Home Run Derby champion representing his Kansas City Royals — something Bo Jackson (1989), Danny Tartabull (1991), Mike Moustakas (2017) and Salvador Perez (2021) all failed to do.
But given that Witt only committed to a minimum 11-year contract extension five months ago to remain the face of the franchise, he might still have some chance of breaking that barrier.
“What he does on the baseball field is what I wish I could do,” said Freddie Freeman, who has known Russell and Witt since the Royals star was a kid. “I wish I could run fast. I wish I could play shortstop. He does it all. He’s a good-looking kid. He’s got it all, you know? It’s a lot of fun to watch. I like young players who play well. The game is in very good hands for a very long time with guys like Bobby Witt.”
Turns out he can really hit some dingers too.
This should perhaps have been obvious, given his 16 first-half homers for the Royals and the fact that he has won a Home Run Derby before, just not the Major League one. He triumphed in the 2018 High School Home Run Derby at Nationals Park, becoming the first player to compete in both the high school and Major League versions of the event.
Witt said before the event that he had no plans to change anything about his compact, fast swing — the shortest in the Derby, according to Statcast — the one that has made him arguably the best five-tool talent in the game. It turns out that even as part of that outrageously complete game, his power tool can roar as he paced the Derby field with 50 home runs in all.
Not bad for the kid who used to accompany Russell on Family Day when the left-hander took up residence in the Braves’ locker room in 2014, the brother-in-law Russell pointed out to teammates when he was in the minor leagues in 2016 as a talent to watch who was “pretty good.”
“That’s it,” Russell said. “The most important thing for us is family. We’re lucky to have a very special branch of our family. It’s really cool to see everyone going crazy in the stands and cheering us on.”