Sadak Makes The Call; Bandura Gets The Call

If you're asking who the two most exciting players in Major League Baseball are right now, there are only two possible answers.

The first, by a wide margin, is obviously Shohei Otani, the Angels' pitcher/slugger, who just happens to be the most exciting player in TigerBlog's lifetime. What he is doing is unprecedented, and he continues to amaze more and more as time goes on.

The second? That would be Cincinnati rookie Elly De La Cruz, who has risen to that level in just 30 games. 

You saw the highlights the other day from when De La Cruz stole second, third and home in a span of two pitches, right? 

TB read something that said the last time a player stole three bases during the same at-bat was back in 1915. He's not sure that's true, but hey, it hasn't been done in forever.

The last Reds' player to do so was Greasy Neale, in 1916. Is that name familiar? A little more than 30 years later, he'd coach the Philadelphia Eagles to the 1948 and 1949 NFL titles. 

The TV call of the steals by De La Cruz was played everywhere. The voice? That would be John Sadak, whom you remember from his days of calling Princeton men's and women's basketball.

Like another former Princeton broadcaster, Tom McCarthy, Sadak has risen to become a Major League Baseball TV announcer. McCarthy, of course, is the TV voice of the Philadelphia Phillies. 

A third Princeton announcer, Patrick McCarthy, does radio for the New York Mets.

The steal of second was pretty standard announcing, with a punctuation of "another stolen base for De La Cruz." Okay, good, solid start.

Then De La Cruz took third: "Pitch down and in. He takes off again. Feign throw. There's no chance. Two steals." That came with a voice that raised the excitement level without overdoing it.

Then, when the pitcher turned his back after getting the ball back, De La Cruz didn't hesitate.  

"He's going home. The throw. He stole home!!!!" 

Then he said the only part that TB didn't quite like.

"The most thrilling man in baseball stole second, third and home."

As TB said, he's the second most thrilling. 

That, of course, is nitpicking. Sadak's calls were brilliant. It was the kind of moment that obviously doesn't come around very often, and it required the announcer to meet the occasion. Sadak did that and more so.

While TB is on the subject of baseball, Princeton outfielder Scott Bandura was selected in the seventh round of the MLB Draft, going to the San Francisco Giants with the 210th overall pick. If you've ever seen Bandura play, he certainly looks the part of a professional baseball player, with the way he can hit, hit for power, run and field. 

By the way, you know how much TB hates reading instant draft grades. He read two stories on the same website on consecutive days, the first of which was a redraft of the 2013 draft, which would have been much different and which goes to show you how tough to predict prospects can be, and then one that gave grades to the 2023 picks. 

Sigh.

Back at Bandura, from the story on goprincetontigers.com:

The rising senior had all-time great season for the Tigers, posting a .363/.454/.665 slash line in 47 games for the Tigers, adding 12 home runs and 45 RB. He led the team in runs (46), triples (three), slugging percentage, stolen bases (15), total bases (121) and on-base percentage. He set the Princeton program record in total bases while his 46 runs are tied for the second most in program history. His 28 extra base hits are second most all-time while his slugging percentage is third and RBI are seventh.

Bandura was obviously impressive all season. He was a huge part of Princeton's rise from a 7-33 season to a spot in the Ivy tournament final this year. He plays with skill and confidence, with a great deal of joy mixed in. That's a great combination.

And so that's the baseball story for today. 

TB will sum it up this way: Somebody makes the call; somebody gets the call. 

In this case, it was John Sadak and Scott Bandura. Congrats to them both on their impressive work.