Melanie Newman will not be doing the Apple TV baseball broadcast

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, BrendanPlutschak said:

Agreed. She's not terrible on radio, but her niche is pre and post game.

Sorry I just can't agree about her being not terrible on radio.   She gives me no idea what the action is.

I remember last year there was a stolen base situation where she never said the runner was going, never described exactly what happened at the plate, and wound up saying "he's in there" and I had no idea what had happened.   Only after listening to her talk after the fact for a good 10 or 15 seconds did I discover that he's in there referred to a runner stealing 2nd.   I don't think she ever used the word steal.

[Frobby]

Just now, SteveA said:

Sorry I just can't agree about her being not terrible on radio.   She gives me no idea what the action is.

I remember last year there was a stolen base situation where she never said the runner was going, never described exactly what happened at the plate, and wound up saying "he's in there" and I had no idea what had happened.   Only after listening to her talk after the fact for a good 10 or 15 seconds did I discover that he's in there referred to a runner stealing 2nd.   I don't think she ever used the word steal.

She’s far worse on the radio.  I don’t need someone to give me a detailed description of the game action on TV, because I can see it.  I don’t mind if she goes off on a tangent there.   But on radio it’s infuriating when you know something just happened from the crowd reaction and she’s fumbling around for a description.  

[glenn__davis]

I'll make this my only Newman post for the year, and I post this not to pile on but only because I know folks from the Orioles read this board.

Please, please don't have her do play-by-play on the radio.  She seems like a great person and she's great as a studio host.  I don't mind if she does TV games because there I can see the action.  But she is not a MLB-caliber radio play-by-play person.  

There - I've said my peace for the year.

[Brooks The Great]

9 minutes ago, glenn__davis said:

I'll make this my only Newman post for the year, and I post this not to pile on but only because I know folks from the Orioles read this board.

Please, please don't have her do play-by-play on the radio.  She seems like a great person and she's great as a studio host.  I don't mind if she does TV games because there I can see the action.  But she is not a MLB-caliber radio play-by-play person.  

There - I've said my peace for the year.

During yesterday's game, she called a Mullins foul tip, then said that the A's catcher "couldn't hold onto it", and explained that the O's runner on first (Frazier) advanced to second on the pitch. I was immediately baffled as to how that was possible, and what could have possibly transpired on the play in reality.

Newman went on to reiterate that the ball had been foul tipped and that the catcher couldn't hold onto it. Which, again, made absolutely no sense. Then it became clear that Mullins swung and missed, and it was just a passed ball on the catcher, allowing Frazier to advance to second. Newman then slowly began to process that it had been a passed ball, but it took her a good while to figure it out and share that with the audience.

She's simply not a good broadcaster. She makes for a nice in-studio pre-game and post-game host, though. That role is where she should be assigned to exclusively, but I doubt that ever happens.

Edited April 14, 2023 by Brooks The Great

[maudibjr]

I don't mind Melanie doing color commentary,  but I don't like her play by play it has a odd cadence and vagueness 

[sevastras]

Most people here are reasonable people, so I feel that the reasonable people won’t be upset about what I say. 
I feel as though she does a really good job compared to other female announcers. She has improved and seems to understand everything very well and is learning to convey it better to the audience. I am not being sexist, however everything baseball is male dominated and I am sure it is a tough gig to get into. With that said, I prefer the best person for the job over highering someone to fit a gender or race quota. 
There have been better male announcers for the Os recently but I think she is pretty decent and will develop into better than most. As Os fans, we have been spoiled over the last 30+ years compared to the garbage I listen to on other teams. She is probably better than 70% of the other guys out there right now. 

[Mooreisbetter27]

9 hours ago, Brooks The Great said:

During yesterday's game, she called a Mullins foul tip, then said that the A's catcher "couldn't hold onto it", and explained that the O's runner on first (Frazier) advanced to second on the pitch. I was immediately baffled as to how that was possible, and what could have possibly transpired on the play in reality.

Newman went on to reiterate that the ball had been foul tipped and that the catcher couldn't hold onto it. Which, again, made absolutely no sense. Then it became clear that Mullins swung and missed, and it was just a passed ball on the catcher, allowing Frazier to advance to second. Newman then slowly began to process that it had been a passed ball, but it took her a good while to figure it out and share that with the audience.

She's simply not a good broadcaster. She makes for a nice in-studio pre-game and post-game host, though. That role is where she should be assigned to exclusively, but I doubt that ever happens.

This is what drives me crazy when I listen to the radio as well.  Sometimes she won't even say what's going on.  She'll be talking about something else and you will literally hear the crack of the bat and wonder what is happening and maybe 20 seconds later she vaguely eludes to what happened.  It's maddening.  

[eddie83]

10 hours ago, glenn__davis said:

I'll make this my only Newman post for the year, and I post this not to pile on but only because I know folks from the Orioles read this board.

Please, please don't have her do play-by-play on the radio.  She seems like a great person and she's great as a studio host.  I don't mind if she does TV games because there I can see the action.  But she is not a MLB-caliber radio play-by-play person.  

There - I've said my peace for the year.

I listened to a decent chunk of yesterday’s game on the radio. Don’t want to pile on either but I concur. 

[glenn__davis]

9 hours ago, sevastras said:

There have been better male announcers for the Os recently but I think she is pretty decent and will develop into better than most. As Os fans, we have been spoiled over the last 30+ years compared to the garbage I listen to on other teams. She is probably better than 70% of the other guys out there right now. 

I'm not going to tell you you're wrong because it's subjective, but let's just say, the bolded part I highly disagree with.  I listen to a fair amount of other radio broadcasts, and while some are annoying in their homer-ism, they all do a significantly better job of letting me know what is actually going on in the game.  Yesterday there were multiple calls in which she described the action and then Geoff Arnold came back over the top and gave some more detail to let us know what actually happened.  As someone who needs to listen on radio a lot while I'm transporting my kids around, I just want someone who can relay what's happening in the game a little better.

[forphase1]

Yeah, she's terrible.  When I'm listening to a game on the radio and she's part of the broadcast, I feel like I am either in the dark 1/2 the time or confused about what is going on as she often either misses to tell important information, or she's just simply wrong.  Like the call the other day on the 'foul tip' that wasn't.  And she didn't just say it once, she repeated the same thing about the foul tip that the catcher missed and the runner advanced, which of course confused the heck out of me because that can't happen.  She does fine on pre-game and post game stuff, but I really hate when she is part of the real action.  Just a very poor announcer overall.  

[Big Mac]

I was listening driving home from work the other night and in the middle of the at-bat she was going on and on about how great the more balanced schedule is, talking about the opportunity for our guys to see people like Kershaw, etc.  I had no clue what was going on in the actual game, which happens far too often when I listen to games where she is doing play-by-play.  

[foxfield]

I like that she is getting a chance and she does seem like a genuine good person.  I am rooting for her, but I agree.  If you are on the radio, you HAVE to tell us what happened.

[Frobby]

I had to leave today’s game at the end of 9 and heard the bottom of the 10th in my car.  Melanie’s call of the winning run was terrible.  I actually thought Mateo had hit a ground ball, based on her non-description.   Oh well, at least I was able to tell that we won!

[Frobby]

So yesterday, I’d forgotten that the game was on Peacock (which I don’t have) and that the game was starting early.  I got on my car to make a quick grocery run, about a 10-minute drive.  Melanie was doing PBP and going on and on about Sonny Gray’s use of the sweeper and how prevalent the sweeper is now.  Meanwhile, I’m waiting to find out the inning and the score.   Finally after several minutes, she mentions it’s the 6th inning, and after about 7 minutes of my 10 minute drive, she mentions that the pitcher is “trying to keep it a 1-0 game, but she doesn’t mention which team is winning!  I literally scream at the radio, and when I come to a stoplight, I have to quickly log onto orioles.com to see whether we are ahead or behind.   

I get to the store and take just a few minutes to get a couple of items and get back in my car to go home, and listen to Melanie announce the bottom of the 7th.   She almost puts me to sleep and I arrive home, put the groceries away and see on GameDay that the O’s nave a runner on base in the 8th, so I reluctantly turn on my radio, and…

It’s a miracle!   Kevin Brown is now doing the radio PBP and he is SO good.  I tune in just in time to hear the Hicks game tying hit, the O’Hearn semi-intentional walk and the Westburg plunking to put the O’s ahead, and then the Bautista three-K 9.   Brown describes the final pitch as “a 103 mile an hour MEGABALL!”  His call off the bottom of the 8th and top of the 9th was just fantastic.  

Honestly, it was the biggest contrast between two announcers calling the same game I can ever remember.  

 

[rm5678]

5 minutes ago, Frobby said:

So yesterday, I’d forgotten that the game was on Peacock (which I don’t have) and that the game was starting early.  I got on my car to make a quick grocery run, about a 10-minute drive.  Melanie was doing PBP and going on and on about Sonny Gray’s use of the sweeper and how prevalent the sweeper is now.  Meanwhile, I’m waiting to find out the inning and the score.   Finally after several minutes, she mentions it’s the 6th inning, and after about 7 minutes of my 10 minute drive, she mentions that the pitcher is “trying to keep it a 1-0 game, but she doesn’t mention which team is winning!  I literally scream at the radio, and when I come to a stoplight, I have to quickly log onto orioles.com to see whether we are ahead or behind.   

I get to the store and take just a few minutes to get a couple of items and get back in my car to go home, and listen to Melanie announce the bottom of the 7th.   She almost puts me to sleep and I arrive home, put the groceries away and see on GameDay that the O’s nave a runner on base in the 8th, so I reluctantly turn on my radio, and…

It’s a miracle!   Kevin Brown is now doing the radio PBP and he is SO good.  I tune in just in time to hear the Hicks game tying hit, the O’Hearn semi-intentional walk and the Westburg plunking to put the O’s ahead, and then the Bautista three-K 9.   Brown describes the final pitch as “a 103 mile an hour MEGABALL!”  His call off the bottom of the 8th and top of the 9th was just fantastic.  

Honestly, it was the biggest contrast between two announcers calling the same game I can ever remember.  

 

Weird that KB was doing the radio. He was doing the PBP on MASN at that time, so did they switch it over to a simulcast?