Andy Freed (born 1971 in

Ellicott City, Maryland Ellicott City is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place in, and the county seat of, Howard County, Maryland, Howard County, Maryland, United States. Part of the Baltimore metropolitan area, its ...

) is a sports broadcaster who has been one of the radio voices for the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

since 2005, when he was hired as half of a new broadcast team with Dave Wills. The two shared

play-by-play In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

and color commentating duties during each ballgame, usually alternating roles for two or three

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other tea ...

s at a time. Freed and Wills were well-liked in the local market and well-respected across baseball, and in 2020, they were chosen as the best radio team in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports journalism department of ''The New York Times''. It provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories ...

. Freed and Wills signed several contract extensions with the Rays, but the partnership ended suddenly when Wills died just before the start of the 2023 season. Since then, Freed has worked Rays radio broadcasts with Neil Solondz, with whom he has continued to swap roles during games. Since 2021, Freed has also served as the Rays' television play-by-play announcer on select road trips when regular TV announcer

Dewayne Staats Dewayne Staats (born August 8, 1952) is an American sports broadcaster who has been the television play-by-play commentator for the Tampa Bay Rays since their inception in 1998. He is currently teamed with color commentator Brian Anderson. ...

is on vacation. Freed's radio career has featured work with the

Pawtucket Red Sox The Pawtucket Red Sox, known colloquially as the PawSox, were a professional minor league baseball club based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. From 1973 to 2020, the team was a member of the International League and served as the Triple-A affiliate ...

, the

Trenton Thunder The Trenton Thunder are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Trenton, New Jersey, and play their home games at Trenton Thunder Ballpark. From 1994 to 2020, it was a Minor League Baseball team of the D ...

, and the

St. Lucie Mets The St. Lucie Mets are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the New York Mets. They are located in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and play their home games at Clover Park. The Mets have been members ...

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

. He also did radio broadcasts for

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Roman Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, it offers 47 undergraduate Academic ...

basketball,

Rider University Rider University is a private university in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, United States. It consists of three academic units: the Norm Brodsky College of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which includes Westminster Choir Coll ...

basketball, College of New Jersey football, and

Baltimore Spirit The Baltimore Blast are an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). Including one championship victory as the original Baltimore Blast, the team has won 10 cha ...

soccer. Freed started his broadcast career while still a student at his alma mater,

Towson State University Towson University (TU or Towson) is a public university in Towson, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1866 as Maryland's first training school for teachers, Towson University is a part of the University System of Maryland. Since its founding, ...

, when he covered various sporting events for the university's radio station,

WTMD WTMD (89.7 FM broadcasting, FM) is a non-commercial educational station, non-commercial public radio, public radio station city of license, licensed to Towson, Maryland, and serving the Baltimore metropolitan area. It broadcasts an adult album al ...

. During baseball's offseason, he has occasionally done play by play duties for

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

broadcasts for ESPN Regional.

Personal life

Andy Freed grew up outside of

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

as a

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

fan. In 1992, he met longtime Orioles and ESPN broadcaster

Jon Miller Jon Miller (born October 11, 1951) is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball. Since 1997, he has been employed as a play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco Giants. He was also a baseball ann ...

, who became a mentor for Freed when he was getting started in the business. Freed and his wife Amy have three children named Sarah, Casey, and Madeline. They also have a dog named Charlie Brown.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freed, Andy 1971 births Living people American radio sports announcers Association football commentators College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Minor League Baseball broadcasters Place of birth missing (living people) Tampa Bay Rays announcers Towson University alumni