In his final season as a Cubs broadcaster, Len Kasper wasn’t afraid to say Tim Anderson — not Javier Báez — is the best shortstop in Chicago.
Now that Kasper is the radio voice of the White Sox, it’s easier for him to say.
The White Sox hired Kasper as their radio play-by-play man last week and he recently joined TV play-by-play man Jason Benetti for a wide-ranging interview. Benetti asked Kasper for his thoughts on Anderson, having watched him from an outside perspective the past five seasons.
“I said this year — I think it was during the last series of the season — I said when we do this exercise, for years it was always ‘Tim Anderson is a nice player but Javy’s the guy,’” said Kasper, referencing comments he made during a Cubs-White Sox broadcast in September. “You’ve got to take Javy.
“I said that’s no longer the case. I said Tim Anderson is a better player than Javier Báez.”
The Anderson-or-Báez question has become a hot debate among Chicagoans in recent years, with both players’ ascensions to star status. In 2018, Báez started the All-Star game at second base, was the NL MVP runner-up and won a Silver Slugger Award.
In 2019, he was the All-Star starter at shortstop, and although he had a down 2020 at the plate, he won his first Gold Glove Award. Anderson won the AL batting title in 2019, hitting .335, and followed that up with a stellar .322 average in 2020, finishing seventh in AL MVP voting while taking home his first Silver Slugger.
What you have is two premier players at the game’s most important position, and Kasper made it clear he by no means was slighting Báez — no matter how Cubs fans may have reacted.
“I was paying what I thought was the highest compliment to TA by saying he’s a better player,” Kasper said. “And for a broadcaster, that credibility matters a lot to me. It doesn’t matter to everybody. It may not matter to anybody else, but I have to have the ability to say that.
“So that’s my answer. He’s the best shortstop in Chicago and it doesn’t mean that Javy’s not going to have an amazing year next year and we can have the debate, and it can be even.
“Like, Javy’s a better defender; Tim’s a better hitter. I think Tim’s offense has been so great and his energy and his leadership — all that stuff — he’s one of my favorite players to watch.”
Whether or not fans agree, we're lucky to have two of the top, most fun to watch shortstops in baseball playing in Chicago.
Watch the full interview here, with the Báez-Anderson conversation starting at the 21:55 mark:
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Kasper sticks to his short story: Tim Anderson best in town - NBC Sports Chicago
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