There have been very few positive stories to come from the Colorado Rockies organization this year. But this weekend, Rockies fans got one with a pair of minor league broadcasters, Josh Suchon and Zach Goodman, got their first crack at calling an MLB game on Friday in relief of regular radio play-by-play voice Jack Corrigan.
Suchon has served in a multitude of roles within baseball throughout his media career, serving as a beat writer for the then-Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants at The Oakland Tribune before transitioning to a role in broadcasting for the Modesto Nuts, who were at the time a Single-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.
Ultimately, Suchon worked his way up to become the play-by-play voice of the Albuquerque Isotopes, the Triple-A affiliate of the Rockies, a role he has served in since 2013. And while his chance at the MLB level on a full-time basis hasn’t come yet, he was granted an opportunity to fill in for Schemmel and work his first MLB game on Friday.
Suchon filled in for Corrigan for both Friday and Saturday’s game, both coming against the Minnesota Twins. And perhaps unsurprisingly, given all the connections he has made throughout his long career in baseball media, he had many supporters openly share their support for his MLB debut on social media over the two days.
As you may expect, Suchon was incredibly appreciative of the fact that KOA Radio program director David Tepper gave him the opportunity to make his MLB debut. However, in a post to his personal Substack days before making his debut, Suchon made it clear that simply making his debut isn’t his “dream.” His real dream is to earn a full-time broadcasting opportunity at the MLB level.
“I’ve known about this for a few months and mostly kept it a secret,” wrote Suchon I didn’t, and still don’t want to go overboard with my excitement. This is not a dream come true. The dream is not to fill-in for two games. The dream is to call all 162 games in a season. This is an opportunity that, hopefully, gets me closer to the dream and I’m extremely grateful. However, it’s not lost on me how few people have ever called play-by-play of a MLB regular season game. It’s probably less than a thousand. I’m humbled to join that group.”
Meanwhile, Zach Goodman, who is the son of Rockies TV play-by-play voice Drew Goodman and the current broadcaster of the Amarillo Sod Poodles, the Double-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, filled in for Corrigan for Sunday’s series finale against the Rockies.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.