Heir to Vin Scully’s throne? Dodgers add Joe Davis to broadcast team
The Los Angeles Dodgers will have a new voice in the television booth during the 2016 season, which is also slated to be the 67th and final season for Hall of Famer Vin Scully.
On Wednesday, the team announced that 27-year-old Joe Davis will come on board to call 50 road television games on SportsNet LA, where he’ll be joined by Orel Hershiser, Nomar Garciaparra and Alanna Rizzo. Notable news, as it also leads us to ponder whether Davis will be the choice to take Scully’s seat full time beginning in 2017.
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Chances are that’s exactly what the Dodgers have in mind. Bringing in Davis for the 2016 season will allow him to get his feet wet with the team. Perhaps more importantly, it will allow Dodgers fans to get familiar with his voice and create a relationship ahead of Davis replacing the irreplaceable.
“Joe Davis has put together an outstanding play-by-play resume,” said Dodgers executive vice president and chief marketing officer Lon Rosen. “We are thrilled to have one of the top young sports broadcast talents in the nation join our great television team.”
Davis’ resume really is quite impressive. He’s currently working for FOX Sports, where he has announced Pac-12 and Big 12 sports, as well as regional MLB games. He’s also worked for Comcast Sports Southeast, ESPN and ESPN Radio. During his time at ESPN, Davis became the youngest person to announce a bowl game, calling the 2013 Poinsettia Bowl at age 25.
He’s obviously on the fast track to stardom in broadcasting, but it’s amazing to think that as relatively young as he is, he’s still four years older than Scully was when he joined the Dodgers booth as a 23-year-old.
It’s also interesting to point out that Davis would be walking into a similar situation as Scully, who initially worked alongside another broadcasting legend Red Barber. Scully has admitted that Barber was a little a rough on him at times. He had limited opportunities to develop his skills with both Barber and Connie Desmond calling games, but in due time he still managed to develop the confidence needed to be successful.
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If Davis is the guy, developing his confidence and a rapport with the same fans days in and day out is something Scully will look to pass along to him. We assume they will be spending a lot of time together over the next year, and we assume Davis will have a completely different perspective of the soft spoken and kind-hearted Scully as his mentor.
We’ll also assume Davis won’t be universally received at first, because that’s how it works when the new guy comes in. But the Dodgers will count on his enthusiasm and his delivery to ultmately win them over.
That won’t hurt either.
Good luck, Joe Davis.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813