As DraftKings began to bulk up its content, it turned to Jared Carrabis to be the face of its baseball coverage.
But after two years, the former Barstool Sports host’s time with the sportsbook is coming to an end, with Carrabis announcing that he will be leaving DraftKings after his contract expires at the end of February.
“This was not a DraftKings decision. This was a me decision, which was a difficult decision,” Carrabis said on the latest episode of the Name Redacted Podcast. “But we are gonna move on. Yes. We are going to move on. With that being said, I want to give the biggest heartfelt thank you to DraftKings.
“… DraftKings gave us the opportunity to stand on our own. And that was something that was high on my list of things… I thought I was going to die a Barstool employee and spend my entire career at Barstool… DraftKings gave me that opportunity where it’s like, ‘OK, you can exist outside of Barstool and you can do well doing that.'”
Carrabis has previously been open about his desire to prove himself outside of the Barstool universe and it would be tough to argue that he hasn’t done that. In addition to the Name Redacted Podcast, Carrabis also hosted DraftKings’ Baseball is Dead show and provided coverage of the MLB Draft Combine for the MLB Network last year.
It will be interesting to see where Carrabis winds up from here. The baseball media doesn’t have many young voices, and he isn’t just one of them, but he also has a proven track record across multiple platforms.
While a return to Barstool can’t be ruled out considering his connections there, the irreverent sports brand is in a different financial (and ownership) situation than it was in when Carrabis left two years. Considering his association with DraftKings, a similar platform like FanDuel would make a lot of sense, as would an expanded role at MLB Network.