Philadelphia is a tough place to be an athlete. Fans are ruthless in their criticism and quick to judge. Players like Alec Bohm have seen this phenomenon first-hand this season. While the Phillies’ on-field performance may provide plenty of excuses to be pessimistic, one thing the fanbase has no reason to complain about is the fantastic team of broadcasters. To that end, Awful Announcing ranked the club’s group of announcers as the sixth-best in the game this year.
The Phillies’ broadcast is highlighted by one man: Tom McCarthy. The New Jersey native has been with the organization for over two decades (interrupted by a two-year pit stop with the New York Mets) and has been the everyday play-by-play man since the unfortunate death of Harry Kalas back in 2009. The 58-year-old has grown not just into a solid voice for the Phils, but one of the best announcers in all of baseball.
Forming a dynamic duo with McCarthy is lovable everyman John Kruk, a crucial component of the 1993 pennant-winning squad. Kruk’s absurd sense of humor and brilliant comedic timing have placed him number one in the hearts of Phillies fans, with their only complaint being that he’s not on the call for every game.
“How did that person know what time it was?” -John Kruk on the individual who invented the clock pic.twitter.com/8RnP2NIWCj
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 19, 2025
A handful of role players round out the on-air color commentary squad, including former Phillies outfielder and general manager Ruben Amaro Jr., Malvern Prep’s finest Ben Davis, and 2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels. Fans still love to hate Amaro for his disastrous reign atop the club’s baseball operations department, but on the whole the trio has performed well enough.
On the radio side is play-by-play voice Scott Franzke, yet another announcer at the pinnacle of the sport. A Texan by birth, Franzke has been with the Phils since the 2006 season, and forms one of the best radio booths in the game alongside old faithful Larry Andersen and ‘93 Phillie Kevin Stocker.
Phillies announcers were given some well-deserved praise in a recent Awful Announcing survey
That spectacular lineup earned some flowers on Wednesday when Awful Announcing dropped their yearly broadcaster rankings, in which they polled close to 10,000 fans from across the sport. The collective voices of the Phillies slotted in at number six on the list, behind only the teams of the Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres.
The praise for the Phillies’ booths centered around the one-two punch of Kruk and McCarthy, with commenters claiming, “Tom McCarthy is potentially America’s most underrated sportscaster,” and “John Kruk is a treasure.” Hard to argue with that. Franzke also received plaudits as, “one of the finest play-by-play callers in the sport,” and Hamels was given positive marks for his occasional work (Sunday home games).
Phillies fans have been blessed to have some fantastic announcers over the years. The generation that grew up on Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn has handed the reins to those inspired by McCarthy, Franzke and Kruk. The good news is, none of those guys are particularly old, and if all goes according to plan, they should continue gracing the city with their voices for years to come.
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