Dick Bremer is leaving the Twins’ broadcast booth after 40 seasons, the longtime TV voice agreeing to be a special assistant and ambassador for the team.
There’s some question about whether the Twins will have a TV contract for 2024 in light of the Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy, but assuming that they will, who should replace Bremer in the booth?
Why not Cory Provus?
Provus, the lead radio voice for the Twins, shares broadcasting duties with ex-Twin Dan Gladden and Stanford grad Kris Atteberry. All have their strengths, but it’s Provus who stands out as the best of the three. He has a good home run call, perhaps an even better strikeout call (Heeeeee struck him out!) and the big moment call, such as when the Twins get a dramatic walk-off win. It goes something like this: Twins win! Twins win! The Minnesota Twins… win it!
But the best part of Cory’s broadcast game is that he has found the correct balance between too much information and the right amount of information to share during the game.
Gladden and Atteberry make for interesting examples. Gladden probably doesn’t talk enough, so I’m not always clear on what’s happening in the game, and Atteberry talks way too much, so as much as I want to listen to the game, I know Atteberry is going to be riffing on some baseball-related topic, whether it’s the Twins or some other team.
And then there’s Cory who falls right in between, giving me everything I need to be apprised of the game, but never overdoing it to the point that I want him to shut up.
Extra innings …
-Awards season is here and some Twins have managed to attract a few votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
No one did better than starter Sonny Gray, who earned enough votes to finish second to AL Cy Young award winner Gerrit Cole. He pitched to a 2.79 ERA over 184 innings, the most innings he has pitched in almost 10 seasons, with 183 strikeouts. He also allowed only eight home runs in 32 starts. The bad news is that Gray rejected the Twins’ qualifying offer and is likely going to sign with another team.
-Baltimore Orioles manager Brandon Hyde won the AL Manager of the Year award, while Twins manager Rocco Baldelli picked up a few votes to finish fourth.
-And Twins rookie infielder Edouard Julien, who slashed .263/.381/.459 over 109 games with 16 home runs and 64 walks, received two votes to finish in seventh place for the Rookie of the Year award. Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson was the winner.