Interviews conducted in a locker room often see other players nearby chime in. The latest case of that came with the Philadelphia Phillies Saturday, where Tim Kelly of Philadelphia sports site On Pattison asked Kyle Schwarber about the idea of him working as an analyst once he’s done playing, only for teammate Bryce Harper to chime in with “Definitely don’t have the face for it.”
As Kelly noted in his piece on this, this came after a video last year where Schwarber was the consensus pick amongst asked teammates about who might be the next broadcaster from their group:
Before the video here and the Harper chirp, Schwarber told Kelly he wasn’t completely sold on broadcasting, and threw in some self-deprecation of his own:
“I don’t know,” Schwarber admitted. “Probably not. I don’t like to really be in front of the camera. I probably have a face for radio, [and] a voice that’s probably made for home. That’s about it. And I’m not as well spoken as those guys. They do a good job. But yeah, I’m sure that there could be an opportunity there later on down the road and see what happens.”
And he continued that after Harper’s line:
“I told you,” Schwarber said. “I said I got a face for radio, Harp. It would be fun when I get done and I can go to Cincinnati and watch Bryce play when he’s 42 and just bury him. But no, it would be interesting.”
When Schwarber finishes playing is indeed a notable question. He’s 31 and in the final season of a four-year, $79-million deal. He played well last year, putting up 3.5 bWAR with a .248/.366/.485 slash line, so there will likely be some playing years ahead for him, whether those are in Philadelphia or not. But it’s interesting to hear his teammates talk about how they think he’ll make a good broadcaster, even if that comes with some chirps.
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.