When we’re not at the game, we’re watching on TV, and broadcasters shape the way we see baseball. This season, Sporting News will be reviewing the work done in booths across MLB. This time it’s the Arizona Diamondbacks on Fox Sports Arizona.
Billy Hamilton leads off for the Reds, and right after Josh Collmenter’s first pitch, play-by-play man Steve Berthiaume notes that both Martin Prado at third base and Paul Goldschmidt at first are playing on the grass to guard against a bunt from the speedster.
Berthiaume says that how Arizona handles Hamilton will be a theme of the four-game series that is now underway — he spins this to Bob Brenly in the form of a question.
Brenly responds that not only will the corner infielders have to be vigilant with Hamilton, but the middle infielders, too, because Hamilton is fast enough to beat out routine grounders when infielders are at normal depth.
A full view of the field shows that shortstop Chris Owings and second baseman Aaron Hill are not necessarily heeding this advice — they appear to be playing pretty deep at their positions. It would be good if Brenly mentioned this, but credit is earned for saying what the team on the field should be doing, being ahead of the game rather than just breaking down things that have happened and everyone has seen.
Berthiaume notes Hamilton’s .287 on-base percentage, and asks, “Will he get on base often enough to utilize one of the game’s biggest weapons? This, they say, is the fastest man baseball has seen in decades, probably since Vince Coleman — a player to whom he is often compared. … He has been clocked, Hamilton, at least this spring, at 3.3 seconds from the batter’s box to first base.” This is an excellent introduction of a key player who has never faced the Diamondbacks before.
When Hamilton strikes out, Brenly resorts to a cliché, but introduces it as such, and it’s apt to apply here: “You can’t steal first.” There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging that clichés do apply — things become clichés for a reason — so long as they’re not the backbone of your analysis. Brenly has more to add, and it’s good — he notes that Hamilton goes down swinging on a high fastball, and that’s just where Collmenter should be trying to pitch him, up in the zone, to try to get Hamilton to hit the ball in the air instead of on the ground.
Collmenter has an easy inning, as he strikes out Todd Frazier and gets Brandon Phillips to fly out. Berthiaume and Brenly also are off to a good start, with nothing pulling them off course from talking about the game and things directly related to it as they set the tone for the broadcast in the opening frame.
Leading men
Much like Hamilton, Diamondbacks leadoff man A.J. Pollock has an on-base percentage that is worthy of conversation, as Berthiaume notes the importance of that stat in the top spot in the order. Pollock’s OBP is .352, and Berthiaume also gives a moment to recognize that Pollock’s batting average is at .301, a point over the defining figure of success in that category. Batting average and on-base percentage living in harmony — it is possible after all.
“Lineup construction is not as much of a slam dunk as it used to be,” Brenly says. “You always had a fast, little guy as a leadoff hitter, followed by a good bat handler that could hit behind the runner, then your RBI guys in the middle of the lineup. There’s not as much running in the game nowadays, Billy Hamilton excluded, but it’s not unusual to see a leadoff hitter that can hit the ball out of the ballpark, drive it into the gaps.”
When Brenly managed the Diamondbacks to their only World Series title, in 2001, his primary leadoff man was Tony Womack, the owner of a .307 on-base percentage that season. Nowadays, Brenly probably would be implored to use Craig Counsell — who had a .359 on-base percentage and led off 59 times that year — more often as his leadoff hitter.
Berthiaume mentions how Hamilton is seen as a throwback, in the mold of Rickey Henderson, Coleman, and Tim Raines, who could steal 80-90 bases a year, or more. The problem — one that would really drive home the point if mentioned again here — is that Henderson had a .401 career on-base percentage, 10th among the top 100 base stealers of all time (including dead ball era players), and Raines had a .385, which is 23rd in that group of 100. Henderson is in the Hall of Fame. Raines should be. What separates Coleman? Aside from longevity, a .324 career OBP, right between Willie Wilson and Hal Chase, in 85th on that list of 100 base stealers. Hamilton, if you gave him another 332 stolen bases to make the list, would be 99th in career OBP, ahead of only Charlie Comiskey and Tommy Corcoran, and while Comiskey is in the Hall of Fame, it seems unlikely that Hamilton would be able to find a path to Cooperstown as one of the founders of the American League.
Anyway, Pollock doubles. Berthiaume’s call is clean and concise, followed by a nifty breakdown from Brenly on both the swing and the fact that Reds left fielder Ryan Ludwick “pretty much conceded that was Billy Hamilton’s ball off the bat. He just ran over there to shout some encouragement to the center fielder.” It’s worth a chuckle.
On the second pitch to Owings, Pollock is on the move. Berthiaume’s call: “Pollock takes off for THIRD! … It gets by Frazier, and A.J. is coming home! 1-0. … Throw from Devin Mesoraco, the catcher, to third base, is in the seats, and it’s now 1-0, Diamondbacks.” Brenly realizes that after all the time spent talking about Hamilton, it’s Pollock’s legs that are responsible for the game’s first run. He calls it a great jump that Pollock got, forcing Mesoraco to rush his throw.
Later in the inning, both announcers get a laugh over Paul Goldschmidt’s titanic home run the previous night, which came during their conversation about whether the Arizona first baseman might need a day off. When Goldschmidt strikes out, Brenly comes back to that point, saying that the reason they thought Goldschmidt might benefit from a breather is exactly the kind of pitch he just swung at and missed — a rather fat fastball that he usually does damage with.
Not perfect
There is a happy attitude in this booth, and good energy. Berthiaume seems legitimately enthusiastic when talking about ballpark snacks the next inning. There is a danger, though, of things getting too familiar, with references to players by first names and nicknames (“A.J.,” “Goldie,” “G,” etc.). Brenly does a little bit of open rooting, with a reference to the Diamondbacks as “us.”
Berthiaume’s “ring him up, sit him down” call on strikeouts would be cheesy if it came across without a kind of endearing sense of enjoyment. During the snack conversation, he drops in a Seinfeld reference — “these pretzels are making me thirsty.” During a bit on Mesoraco, Berthiaume says the Reds catcher should be used to dirt because he comes from Punxsutawney, Pa. He gets no response. “You know, groundhogs,” he says. “Dirt.” Brenly responds by saying, “I gotcha. I gotcha.” It’s just not funny — but by totally shivving his partner in a good-natured manner, Brenly manages to get a little comedy out of it.
Good chemistry goes a long way toward making any flaws of a broadcast team bearable. The flaws here are minimal anyway. Berthiaume’s play-by-play is on point, and he is excellent at guiding his analyst to good topics for further analysis. Brenly hits his points quickly, expands when he has time, and does not browbeat the viewer. Whether someone is numbers-inclined, a baseball Luddite, or someone just tuning in for the first time, this broadcast should work well.
A good display of this comes later, when a graphic shows that among major league center fielders, Pollock trails only Carlos Gomez, Mike Trout, and Andrew McCutchen in OPS.
“You like OPS?” Berthiaume asks.
“Yeah, I do,” Brenly says. “I think baseball has paid a lot of attention to that in the past. It just didn’t have its own category on the stat sheet. You look at a guy’s slugging percentage. You look at his on-base percentage. You add ‘em up, and yeah, you know, it makes sense, but now we actually have OPS to actually combine the two. So, yeah, it’s a very valuable, very telling stat.”
“It’s one of those that’s easy to digest, which is why it’s great for fans who are just kind of getting into all that stuff,” Berthiaume says.
Array of Arroyo
The third inning seems to be where broadcasts like to work in their field reporter, and with the Reds in town, it is natural that Bronson Arroyo would be asked about facing his old team. Video of him answering such a question is played, and then we hear Jody Jackson offer a few more words of recap on Arroyo’s pregame chat, with a live shot of Arroyo on the screen.
Jackson is in and out quickly, leaving enough time for Berthiaume and Brenly to offer a couple of thoughts before a pitch is even thrown. If you’re going to present material that is not related to the game being played, this is the way to do it.
The inning includes a riff on WKRP in Cincinnati, a Brayan Pena double, a man in the stands being shamed by his friends with a sign declaring that he is a Reds fan who has not bought a beer, a fly ball to center for a double play when Pollock makes a great throw to nail Pena at third, a pretty panorama of dusk in the desert, and a bunt for the third out by Reds pitcher Tony Cingrani. There’s a good pace to the business being conducted in the booth.
HR TMI?
Aaron Hill gives Berthiaume a chance to showcase his home run call.
“This is WELL HIT! Left field… annnnd, GONE! Aaron Hill! Well, that 0-fer last night is a distant memory. He’s 2-for-2, and that’s his fifth. The one that was wiped out in the rainout at Citi Field last week — he’s got it back!”
It’s not gimmicky, which is a plus, but if there’s a situation where less is more, this might be it. A home run from last week’s rainout probably can wait to be discussed until after the bases have been circled on this home run.
That’s a nitpick, but such a good job is done letting the game breathe the rest of the time, it’s a little jarring to hear so much information crammed into a home run trot.
Cool as a Collmenter
The Diamondbacks keep cruising, and the broadcast cruises right along with them, at 4-0 into the ninth inning.
“Here we are in the ninth, and Josh Collmenter is working on some history,” Berthiaume says. “For Josh, if he can get through this ninth unscathed, it would be his first career complete game, and his first career shutout. And, how about this? He has faced the minimum through eight innings. Since 1914, only 12 times has a pitcher thrown a nine-inning complete game, facing just 27 batters while giving up at least three hits. The last guy to do it? Roy Oswalt in 2008.”
Berthiaume then names some of the other members of the club Collmenter is trying to join: Mike Flanagan, John Candelaria, Smoky Joe Wood, and Walter Johnson. He expresses the requisite surprise over Collmenter possibly joining Johnson in history, although of course both Philip Humber and Sandy Koufax have thrown perfect games, which is why one night is not the basis of historical evaluation, but more about fun facts like this.
With two outs, Brenly points out the Diamondbacks bullpen cheering on Collmenter, and what a difference this is from the beginning of the season, when Arizona’s starters struggled so mightily, the bullpen had to get involved early on a nightly basis — “It was a fire drill down there.”
“Not tonight,” Berthiaume says. “This man has take care of business, and now tries to close it out with two outs in the ninth.”
Berthiaume recaps the three hits the Reds have had. He is putting a bow on things, and Collmenter finishes the job by getting Skip Schumaker to bounce back to the mound. Everything is wrapped up tidily, a neat ending to a crisp broadcast.
RANKINGS SO FAR
1. San Francisco (Kuiper/Krukow, CSN Bay Area)
2. Oakland (Kuiper/Fosse, CSN California)
3. Arizona (Berthiaume/Brenly, FS Arizona)
4. Seattle (Sims/Blowers, ROOT)
5. Chicago-AL (Harrelson/Stone, CSN Chicago)
6. Houston (Brown/Ashby, CSN Houston)
7. New York-AL (Kay/Cone, YES)
8. St. Louis (McLaughlin/Hrabosky, FS Midwest)
9. Washington (Carpenter/Santangelo, MASN)