Colorado Rockies: The Phillies TV broadcast’s mistakes and snafus were aplenty this weekend

Then came the comparison game for the Rockies infielder.

"“Nobody’s Nolan Arenado over there (at third) because he’s probably the best third baseman –one of the best third basemen–I’ve ever seen so it’s going to be a little bit of a dropoff from the third baseman they had,” said Amaro Jr."

Well, actually, entering Friday, McMahon had more DRS than Arenado … and McMahon has been playing two positions.

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I asked Bud Black about McMahon’s defense on Saturday and he said this:

"“I think Mac, if you grade him out, he has good range, I think the hands are solid, he’s got a powerful arm that plays from second or third,” said Black. “I know what my eyes tell me and I know what the data tells me (and) I think he’s an above-average defender.”"

So Amaro Jr.’s former teammate and locker mate, Bud Black, says that McMahon is “an above-average defender.” But Amaro Jr. didn’t have to ask Black (who said that he was texting with Amaro Jr. prior to the game on Friday) on that, but he could have easily looked at the numbers, which show that McMahon is “above-average” and has been since he has reached the major league level in 2017.

It’s the simple things that can make a good broadcast for baseball and, unfortunately, many of them were lacking this weekend.

The Phillies broadcast crew ranked 24th in The Athletic’s rankings by readers of The Athletic (subscription required) and that was with their regular color commentators, former ESPN analyst John Kruk and former MLB catcher Ben Davis. For comparison, the Rockies TV crew was ranked lower than that, partially, because, as one reader commented for the Rockies section, “they sound like cheerleaders.”

The Rockies will face the Giants this weekend, who are widely regarded as one of the top five TV broadcasts in baseball, and particularly, for the classic baseball video game lovers of the old MVP Baseball series of the early- and mid-2000s with Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow, it will be a much better broadcast.