Tampa Bay Rays Tv Announcers And Commentators 2023

Tampa Bay Rays broadcast team includes:

• Dewayne Staats
• Brian Anderson
• Rich Hollenberg
• Doug Waechter 
• Matt Joyce
• Denard Span

Dewayne Staats (play-by-play)

The Emmy-award-winning broadcaster Dewayne Staats joined Tampa Bay as their announcer in 1998. His media career exceeds more than four decades, as he has been a part of many professional teams before.

Before announcing for the Rays, Staats provided his voice for the Yankees from 1990 to 1994. Meanwhile, he announced for the Chicago Cubs from 1985 to 1989 and Houston Astros from 1977 to 1984.

The 2023 season marks his 26th season with the Rays, while he is currently on his 48th MLB broadcasting season. Staats graduated from SIU- Edwardsville in 1975.

He started his sports calling carer after his graduation with WSIE Radio. He later earned Distinguished Alumnus of the Year honors in 1987 and was inducted into its Alumni Hall of Fame in 2010. 

Brian Anderson (analyst/color commentator)

Former MLB star Brian Anderson first joined the Rays as a full-time color commentator in 2011. It was after serving as a part-time analyst for three seasons before.

He first joined them in 2008 as a color analyst during a ten-game West Coast road trip. He was the assistant pitching coach for Tampa Bay during the 2008/09 season.

Brian then worked as a part-time TV analyst for the team's 50 games in the 2009-10 season. The following year, he joined the Rays full-time and is currently in his 13th broadcasting season.

Anderson played in MLB as a pitcher from September 1993 to May 2005. He was a part of the California Angels, Cleveland Indians, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Kansas City Royals in his lifetime. 

Rich Hollenberg (Pregame/Postgame Host)

Rich Hollenberg started his venture with Bally Sports in March 2014 as a studio host. He is a 3-time regional Emmy Award-winning sportscaster.

Hollenberg sometimes takes over the duties as an announcer for the Rays as well. Likewise, he is also affiliated with ESPN as a broadcaster.

Rich covers a wide variety of sports as a play-by-play anchorman and studio host for ESPN Networks. Regarding his Emmys, his recent was in 2021 for hosting a Lou Gehrig Day pregame special and in 2020 for hosting a “Salute to the Troops” pregame special.

Doug Waechter (Pregame/Postgame Host)

Doug Waechter first joined Bally Sports in 2015. He has continued his work as a Pregame/Postgame analyst for the last eight years.

Doug's prior history as an MLB player makes him a very fitting person for the position. He made his MLB debut on 27 August 2003 for Tampa Bay, while he last played on August 11, 2009 for the Kansas City Royals.

After his pro baseball career, Waechter first worked at Team One Orthopaedics as their senior sales representative from 2011 to 2017. He then pursued a real estate career.

He was a realtor at The Strickland Property Group from 2017 to 2019. As of 2023, aside from his time with the Rays, Doug has been serving as a realtor at DMK Group at Douglas Elliman since 2019.

The former major league baseball pitcher ties in with Hollenberg regarding three Emmy Award wins in the sports broadcasting field.

Matt Joyce (Pregame/Postgame Analyst)

Starting with the 2023 season, Matt Joyce has joined Bally Sports Sun as a part-time sports analyst for the Rays, his former major league team.

Joyce made his MLB debut for the Detroit Tigers on 5 May 2008 and last played for the Philadelphia Phillies on September 23, 2021. Moreover, he played for Tampa Bay from 2009-14.

Apart from that, Matt also represented LA Angels, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics, Atlanta Braves, Miami Marlins, and the Phillies. His retirement came due to the 2021-22 MLB lockout, which persuaded him to embark on a broadcasting career.

Denard Span (Pregame/Postgame Analyst)

Denard Span started as a special assistant in baseball operations for the Rays on January 24, 2021. As of February 2023, he will work alongside the Bally Sports Sun Rays' broadcast team as an analyst.

Span is a former MLB center fielder who played in the league for ten seasons from 2008 to 2018. He was a team member of the Minnesota Twins, Washington Nationals, San Francisco Giants, Bay Rays, and Seattle Mariners in his pro career.

He was born and raised in Tampa, one of the many reasons for him to join the Rays broadcast team after his retirement.

Reporters for the Tampa Bay Rays channel on Spectrum are:

• Tricia Whitaker
• Ryan Bass

Tricia Whitaker

Tricia Whitaker joined the Rays media fraternity at the start of 2019. Her LinkedIn confirms that she first joined the Bally Sports Network in Florida and has joined the Rays throughout their travel routine.

Tricia is now devoted to her current job as a full-time employee. Before joining and reporting for MLB, she was a sports anchor and reporter for CBS4 WTTV from 2014 to 2018.

Whitaker now mainly reports from the Rays' court line. She attended Indiana Wesleyan University from 2008 to 2009 for her bachelor's degree in Communications and Media Studies. She later transferred to Indiana University Bloomington and completed her degree in 2012.

Ryan Bass

Ryan Bass joined the Bally Sports Florida team in April 2022. He has been seen as a fill-in and on-field reporter for the Rays.

Bass is currently on a part-time contract basis as he also maintains his time between Bally Sports Sun and NewsNation Network in Nashville as a national correspondent.

Ryan is also the media director at Otter Public Relations. He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a journalism degree in 2011.

Regarding his media career, Bass has a decade-long experience reporting sports in the Tampa Bay area. He is the former sports director and main anchor for CBS WTSP-TV.

Tampa Bay Rays play by play announcers are:

• Andy Freed
• Neil Solondz
• Ricardo Taveras 

Andy Freed (play-by-play)

Andy Freed has been the Rays' radio announcer for the last 17 seasons. He will continue in his tenure without his long-time Dave Wills.

The duo of Wills and Freed has been one of the prominent names in sports media. They shared play-by-play and color commentating duties for the Rays from 2005 until Wills passed away in March 2023.

Andy will thus be shouldering the announcing duties this season. Before working on Bally Sports for Tampa Bay, Freed was the voice of the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox for four seasons.

He also provided his voice for the Double-A Trenton Thunder, then-known as Red Sox from1996-2000. He won the 2015 Florida Sportscaster of the Year award distributed by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

Neil Solondz (play-by-play)

Neil Solondz is the new announcer of the Rays radio broadcast team. He previously used to perform pre and post-game hosting duties.

Neil has been affiliated with the Bally Sports network since 2012. He was a broadcaster at Wolfpack Sports Marketing from 2005 to 2011.

Solondz graduated with a Bachelor's degree in English from Rutgers University. He started his sports news reporting career in his college days.

Ricardo Taveras (Spanish play-by-play)

Ricardo Taveras looks after the play-by-play duties for the Spanish broadcast. The 2023 MLB season is the 19th season in his long radio career.

He will be working together with Enrique Oliu for this season as well. Taveras previously worked for the local station, Mira TV Tampa.

Ricardo hails from the Dominican Republic and started his sportscasting career there. He was the program director for HIVG 870 AM and HIVP 970 AM from 1990 to 1992 there.

Taveras then served as assistant program director for WRIV in Providence and later as a sales executive for Telemundo Tampa from 2011-13.