Jason Benetti
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
September 9, 1983
- Chicago White Sox (2016–2023)
- Detroit Tigers (2024–present)
Jason Benetti | |
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.png) Benetti in 2017 | |
| Born | Jason Robert Benetti September 9, 1983 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
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| Sports commentary career | |
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| Genre | Play-by-play |
| Sport | Major League Baseball |
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Jason Robert Benetti (born September 9, 1983)[1][2] is an American sportscaster. He is the primary television play-by-play announcer for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball on Detroit SportsNet.[3] He is the lead broadcaster for Sunday Night Baseball,[4] as well as alternate play-by-play for NBA on NBC.
From 2016 to 2023, Benetti was the lead play-by-play announcer for Chicago White Sox of MLB, and served as an alternate play-by-play announcer for Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association, on NBC Sports Chicago.[5] Now primarily contracted with NBC Sports nationally, Benetti was formerly the main announcer for ESPN's alternate "StatCast" telecasts, and additionally has worked for Fox Sports, Westwood One, and Time Warner covering football, baseball, lacrosse, hockey, and basketball.
Benetti was born ten weeks prematurely at the University of Chicago Hospital, where he remained for the first three months of his life.[2] While in intensive care, Benetti developed a respiratory illness that deprived his blood of oxygen. He was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a toddler. Benetti underwent years of physical therapy and two surgeries to improve his ability to walk.[6][7]
Benetti grew up a few miles south of Chicago in Homewood, Illinois,[8] and graduated from the Homewood-Flossmoor High School in 2001. He ran the school's NCAA tournament pool and joined the school's radio station, WHFH (88.5) as a regular disc jockey and play-by-play announcer for Vikings sports coverage.[9] Benetti's cerebral palsy prevented him from playing tuba during marching band season. Not wanting to exclude him, the band director asked him to serve as the halftime broadcaster for their marching events.[10]
Benetti attended S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and graduated in 2005 with bachelor's degrees in broadcast journalism, economics and psychology.[11][12] At Syracuse, he worked at WAER-FM and WJPZ FM where he called Syracuse Orange lacrosse and women's basketball.[13]
After graduating from Syracuse, Benetti enrolled at Wake Forest University School of Law, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree in 2011.[12]