(AP) With the No. 2 choice, the Kansas City Royals grabbed Texas high school shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., son of former big league pitcher Bobby Witt.
The younger Witt has draft-day bragging rights on his father, who won 142 games over 16 seasons after being selected No. 3 overall by Texas in 1985.
“Now I’ve got him beat,” Bobby Witt Jr. said on MLB Network.
The Witts became the highest-drafted father-son duo, topping Tom Grieve (No. 6, 1966) and Ben Grieve (No. 2, 1994). They are the seventh father-son combination of first-rounders and the first since Delino DeShields (1987) and Delino DeShields Jr. (2010).
“The dreams are kind of turning into reality,” the younger Witt said.
Witt hit .489 this year with more home runs (15) than strikeouts (11). Witt, 18, is six feet and 180 pounds, and was ranked the No. 2 overall Draft prospect by MLB Pipeline. He was the Gatorade 2019 national high school player of the year.
