Christopher Charles Welsh (born April 14, 1955) is an American sportscaster and former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher. He played in

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 ...

for the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

, Texas Rangers, and

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

. Welsh spent his final season as an active player with the Reds and later became a sportscaster for the team.

Early life

Welsh was born in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

. His family later moved to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, Ohio, where he grew up with three sisters. Welsh graduated from St. Xavier High School in 1973. He began his collegiate baseball career at the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...

under coach Jack Butterfield, and later played a role in selecting former Major League Baseball pitcher Robin Roberts as the South Florida Bulls baseball coach. Welsh played his final collegiate baseball season under Roberts. In 1976, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

in the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

for the Yarmouth Red Sox.

Playing career

Welsh was drafted by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

in the 24th round of the 1976 amateur draft; however, he did not sign. In 1977, he was drafted again by the Yankees in the 21st round. He then went on to play for former Yankees Class AAA organization, the

Columbus Clippers The Columbus Clippers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They are located in Columbus, Ohio, and are named for speedy Merchant ship, merch ...

. On March 31, 1981, Welsh was involved in a six-player trade with Ruppert Jones, Joe Lefebvre, and Tim Lollar to the

for Jerry Mumphrey and John Pacella. In his rookie season with the Padres in 1981, Welsh pitched 123.7 innings while compiling a 6-7 record and a 3.78 ERA. He pitched four complete games—two of which were shutouts. After two years with the Padres, Welsh was purchased by the

. He was then traded on November 7, 1984, to the Texas Rangers for Dave Hostetler. With the Rangers, he posted a 2–5 record with an ERA of 4.13. On April 4, 1986, Welsh signed as a free agent with the

, and he was released by the team after the conclusion of the season, on November 12. Welsh was known for an unusual pitching delivery in which he would "straight-arm" the ball; he extended his left arm and pitched the ball sidearm with the arm almost completely straight and little to no bending of his elbow.

Broadcasting career

Welsh has been the Bally Sports Ohio TV color analyst for the Cincinnati Reds since 1993, teaming with long-time sportscaster George Grande until Grande's retirement in 2009 to form the longest-running TV broadcasting partnership in team history. During broadcasts, he commonly jokes about his playing career being nothing more than mediocre. Also, he is known as "The Crafty Left-Hander" because of his unconventional throwing motion. His current broadcast partner is John Sadak.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Welsh, Chris 1955 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Cincinnati Baseball players from Wilmington, Delaware Charlotte O's players Cincinnati Reds announcers Cincinnati Reds players Columbus Clippers players Denver Zephyrs players Fort Lauderdale Yankees players Indianapolis Indians players Major League Baseball pitchers Montreal Expos players Oklahoma City 89ers players Oneonta Yankees players San Diego Padres players South Florida Bulls baseball players St. Petersburg Pelicans players St. Xavier High School (Ohio) alumni Texas Rangers players Tiburones de La Guaira players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Wichita Aeros players Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox players 20th-century American sportsmen