MLB's Experiment With Their First Female Broadcaster Is Not Going Well

[TMC]

LANGUAGE WARNING

• This lady is not the pioneer of announcing. It’s like a librarian got lost.
  
• I feel dumber after watching a game Cavnar announces
  
• Is Cavnar getting better?
  
• Jenny Carver...
  
• Awful Announcing’s 2024 local MLB broadcaster rankings
  
• A’s announcer jinxes her own Jose Siri trash talk
  
• The Rockies clapped back against Twitter users who criticized broadcaster Jenny Cavnar
  
• San Francisco Chronicle comes to A’s announcer Jenny Cavnar’s defense amidst social media criticism
  
• [Jenny Cavnar] "Hey, Siri, It's Not Your Night."
  
• Oakland A's announcer Jenny Cavnar torched over brutal call
  
• Jenny Cavnar
  
• Do you have a preference over Jenny Cavnar or Chris Caray?
  
• Oakland A's announcer Jenny Cavnar torched over brutal call
  
• Chris and Jenny?
  
• Unpopular opinion: I don’t like Jenny Cavnar as an announcer
  
• "Hey, Siri, It's Not Your Night."
  
• This teams TV booth is awful

[Dead2009]

Apparently she wasnt good with the Rockies, either.

[TMC]

[TMC]

LANGUAGE WARNING

Jenny Cavnar: A' s PBP Voice: "Simply Unqualified"



A's TV Voice is a Total Disgrace; Jenny Cavnar PC Run Amok



Jenny Cavnar is God Awful as A's TV Broadcaster

[AMackII]

On the other hand, she should give more time to learn from real (and most experienced) baseball commentators

[TMC]

Athletics broadcasters couldn’t contain excitement on Denzel Clarke’s Catch of the Year contender

By Reice Shipley on 06/10/2025

The Athletics haven’t given their broadcast team all that much to get excited about this season, coming into Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels 15 games below .500. But in the first inning of Monday’s game, Athletics center fielder Denzel Clarke made a play that Jenny Cavnar and Dallas Braden simply couldn’t stop talking about.

In the bottom of the first inning, Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel drove a pitch from Athletics pitcher Grant Holman deep out to center field for what would have surely been a solo home run to give the Angels an early 1-0 lead. That is, if not for Clarke, who climbed the wall and brought the ball back into the park with a truly unbelievable effort.

Cavnar and Braden were in complete shock at what they had just seen, which led to an incredibly energetic yet somewhat disorganized call from the two in the booth.

“This one to center field,” said Cavnar. “Denzel Clarke on the move back after he stepped toward home plate.”

“Oh my god!” interjected Braden as Clarke made the leaping catch.

“And he makes another catch!” added Cavnar. “Back-to-back weeks where he made the Electric Play of the Week and he’s already on the leaderboard for this week.”

“You go ahead and book it,” added Braden. “I’ve seen the list of the greatest catches you’re ever going to see in your life. If you don’t have room for this one on your list, we’re watching two different sports. I mean, Denzel Clarke climbs the ladder and then hangs out. You want to talk about playing above the rim, folks… This ball is out of the ballpark by five or six feet. And Denzel says, ‘Nay nay, give me that back!'”

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Cavnar and Braden caught a bit of flak from some on social media for talking over the play. But in their defense, the reactions seemed entirely genuine given the ridiculous nature of the play.

As both Braden and Cavnar alluded to on the broadcast, Clarke is certainly no stranger to making spectacular plays on the field. Just last week, he made a catch despite running full speed into the outfield wall at Sutter Health Park, the temporary home of the Athletics.

Clearly, as long as Clarke is manning center field for the Athletics, Braden and Cavnar will have something to be entertained by, even if the team success isn’t quite there for the Athletics.

[Duster76]

This is the first time I have actually listened to her, I have to admit, she's bad news. The guy doing color with her isn't much better. No way I'd listen to that three hours a day.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by AMackII

On the other hand, she should give more time to learn from real (and most experienced) baseball commentators

All of these calls from Jenny Cavnar go the same way,

- She isn't tracking the play well

- Something exciting happens but she doesn't quite get to that level in time

- She realizes she made a mistake and then starts screeching to compensate

[TMC]

Awful Announcing’s 2025 MLB local broadcaster rankings

30. Athletics (Jenny Cavnar, Dallas Braden; also Chris Caray on play-by-play): 1.27



Most common grade: F (35.3% of votes)
Percentage of A/B/C grades: 40.1%

The Athletics have faced significant criticism on multiple fronts this year, including their move to a minor-league ballpark in Sacramento without using any city’s name (which has drawn plenty of jibes from other teams’ announcers) and their struggles to build their planned new stadium in Las Vegas. And the announcers have taken their share of criticism as well, including for elements around that two-stage move (such as Braden’s appearance at the Vegas “groundbreaking” and Caray calling a home run a foul ball and partially blaming the stadium setup).

The voting history and current comments here suggest this low ranking wasn’t solely because of the team’s move. However, with that move drama playing out for the last several seasons, it’s possible it had an impact on some of the 2024 and 2023 voting as well. These three announcers were also on the call for the Athletics last year when they were still in Oakland, and they received a 1.45 in our poll then, while Braden received a 1.65 in 2023 with Vince Cotroneo, Johnny Doskow, and Glen Kuiper on play-by-play. Both of those years saw the A’s place 29th of 30 teams.

Overall, this doesn’t look like a booth that saw its ranking plummet off a cliff solely due to the team’s move. However, the move may have played a role in the 395 Fs they received (of 1,119 votes). That was by far the highest number in these rankings, and was also a 7% jump in F votes from last year.

Cavnar drew the most discussion in the comments, including a lot of criticism. Some of that was over her voice, while some was over specific mistakes and decisions, such as a missed “game over” call against the Rays on July 2. A few other lines there included “reads balls off the bat poorly” and “often loses track of fly balls.” But others found her “great” and “very knowledgeable,” and several said she has improved over time.

Braden and Caray both drew positive and negative comments. Many praised Braden’s enthusiasm, and several who differentiated amongst the broadcasters ranked him as the top of the group. But he took criticism as well, from “clown” to “could do without.” And while quite a few people said they preferred Caray to Cavnar and want him as the main voice alongside Braden, others went the opposite way.

All in all, there were a lot of critical comments for this booth as a whole. Those included “About on par with how their first season is going in Sacramento” and “This announce team is on brand for the Sad Sac A’s.” Thus, it’s not surprising they received the lowest grade in the poll, and one of the lowest grades in any of the recent rankings we’ve done.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TMC

Awful Announcing’s 2025 MLB local broadcaster rankings

Here we go again!

Steve Phillips and Xavier Scruggs are joined by Jenny Cavnar to chat Athletics baseball, plus Dani Wexelman shares more on the Cardinals on today's episode of The Leadoff Spot.