Back in July, the Los Angeles Angels dumped Daron Sutton from their broadcast booth on Bally Sports West. Sutton’s departure, which he believes was pushed for by the team’s front office, led to the team bringing in former Marlins play by play broadcaster Rich Waltz (pictured above on the left) for the second half of the season.
Well, the winds of change are blowing once again in Anaheim. Per The Athletic, Waltz won’t return for the 2022 season.
In comments to The Athletic, Waltz said he enjoyed his time with the team and would be interested in play by play work for another team.
“Look, I’m really proud of my work. I’m really happy with the way it went,” Waltz said Tuesday. “I’ve got no regrets. I’m disappointed it was just three months. But I’m thankful for the opportunity and I had a great time. And I’m hopeful there’s a team out there that needs a voice.”
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“I’d love to be the voice of a team,” Waltz said. “And I did it for a long time in Miami and had a great time. And the three months with the Angels really felt just like Miami — great people to work with. A fun team to call, even though they didn’t get to the postseason.”
A replacement for Waltz hasn’t been announced, but the Angels might not need a second full-time play by play broadcaster. Matt Vasgersian joined the team’s stable of broadcasters alongside Sutton in March, and plans to call more games for the team in 2022 following his departure from the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast booth. Vasgersian also has duties with MLB Network that he’ll continue with, but if he’s able to call something like 120 Angels games (assuming a full schedule), the team won’t need to make a big splash with their play by play hire. Hell, they could probably make do with those in house.
The Angels had a top-tier broadcast team prior to the 2021 season and the departure of Victor Rojas. This past year was mostly chaotic, and that’s not the fault of Sutton, Vasgersian, or Waltz. I do believe Angels broadcasts on Bally Sports West this season will be far more consistent with Vasgersian calling the lion’s share of the games along with Mark Gubicza and Jose Mota, rather than three different play by play announcers splitting duties.
