Houston Astros: New and Old Faces for the Broadcast Booth

The remodel of the Houston Astros TV broadcast team is complete, a two-man team has been assembled to call the possible playoff run in 2017.

The Houston Astros have spent all offseason upgrading their 25-man roster to make a deep run in the playoffs. They are coming off a season where they fell just short of the playoffs despite the poor start to the season. There will be some new faces in the dugout, centerfield is getting a makeover, and so did the TV broadcast booth. As we know, longtime announcer Bill Brown retired, and Alan Ashby was let go at the end of 2016.

Return of the Blummer.

When we had Geoff Blum on Talking Stros in October, he was still in the dark about what was going on. He wanted to return, but he wasn’t sure what the Astros plans were. When Brown retired, the front office used that as an opportunity to shake up the booth a little. Some fans grew tired of Ashby’s play calling, but I was okay with it.

Nevertheless, we needed a broadcast team for the 2017 season and beyond. The Astros wanted to avoid having one person announce on the road while another announces home games. They wanted a consistent team to call what looks like a great team in 2017.

“I am supremely excited about the opportunity to call Astros baseball full time. Todd will be a great addition to the booth.” Geoff Blum

Today, the Astros finally announced who would be calling Astros games for Root Sports. The old face is Blum as he will return to the analysts’ role that he served last year, according to Jake Kaplan. He will be part of a two-man booth with the new face I will talk about in a second. While Blum may always be known for that homer in the World Series vs. Houston, but he makes broadcasts fun.

Welcome, Todd Kalas!

Kalas will be joining the Astros after 19 seasons as part of the Rays broadcast team. Via a video Tweet, Kalas said that he wanted to stay in Tampa Bay unless a perfect scenario opened up. He describes the Astros job as that perfect scenario. The Astros will be an exciting team to announce, but there are other reasons he wanted the Houston job. Listen to his play-by-play in the Tweet below.

Via Brian McTaggart, Reid Ryan said this about his new broadcast team. “We are very excited about Todd Kalas and Geoff Blum. They will bring a new energy to our broadcast, mixing the history of the Astros’ organization with our current, exciting young team.” I couldn’t agree with that statement anymore. Blum is part of the Astros’ history. It helps to have a recognizable face on the TV screen.

Kalas was born in Houston, so it is a dream come true for him to broadcast for the Houston Astros. According to McTaggart, Kalas’ dad Harry was also a broadcaster for 25-years and has a place in the MLB Hall of Fame Broadcasters section.

Next: Are the Astros still courting Edwin Encarnacion?

The Astros wanted someone with experience, and they got this with Kalas. After watching the high and lows in Tampa, he will be aboard to watch the exciting 2017 Houston Astros. I’m excited to see how Blummer and Kalas work together, but I think their voices will complement each other.

Welcome back Geoff and welcome to Houston Todd.