Former Nationals GM Mike Rizzo joins MLB Network’s Draft Combine coverage

MLB Network is adding another decorated front-office voice to its Draft Combine coverage.

Mike Rizzo will serve as an analyst for the network’s June 23 Draft Combine coverage at Chase Field, according to Sports Business Journal, joining Dan O’Dowd as the second former MLB general manager on the broadcast. Rizzo spent 17 seasons running the Nationals’ baseball operations department, including the 2019 World Series-winning season, before the team let him go last July alongside manager Davey Martinez amid a stalled rebuild.

Rizzo, whose scouting departments in Arizona and Washington produced No. 1 overall picks Justin Upton, Stephen Strasburg, and Bryce Harper, has made occasional appearances on MLB Network since his firing, including as a contributor to the network’s annual Top Ten Right Now offseason series.

MLB Network became the new home of the Golden Spikes Award presentation this year, adding to its existing role as the exclusive home of the Draft Combine since 2021. The network’s amateur baseball coverage doesn’t stop there, either, with the Andre Dawson Classic and the Desert Invitational both part of its rotation outside the USA Baseball partnership.

This year’s Combine runs June 23-26 at Chase Field, with 335 prospects in attendance and a five-hour on-site MLB Network program on June 23 featuring O’Dowd, Greg Amsinger, Jared Carrabis, Harold Reynolds, Xavier Scruggs, Jim Callis, Lance Brozdowski, Mike Lowell, and Dan Plesac. A feature on Georgia Tech standout Vahn Lackey airs tonight on the National Pregame Show ahead of the Combine, with the Draft itself set for July 11-12 in Philadelphia during All-Star Week.

Amsinger, who has hosted the network’s draft coverage since 2009, has talked before about what the steady expansion of names and coverage says about the event’s growth, telling AA in 2021 that “it’s symbolic of the growth and the importance of this event.”