Rich Waltz (born October 22, 1962) is an American television

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 ...

commentator currently calling college football, basketball for

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...

and

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American digital cable and satellite television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports ...

. Waltz also calls MLB for

MLB Network MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with TNT Sports (United States), TNT Sports, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Communications h ...

's '' Showcase'' telecasts and Apple TV's Friday Night Baseball. The past two seasons he has filled in on TV for the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

and the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, ...

Bally Sports FanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports) is a group of regional sports networks in the United States owned by Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group). The networks carry regional broadcasts of sporting events from variou ...

. Waltz also called the Phoenix Regional of the World Baseball Classic for MLB Network and MLB International. A three-time Emmy winner, Waltz is formerly known for calling television broadcasts for the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League East, East Division. The ...

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 ...

from 2005 to 2017. Waltz's dismissal by Fox Sports Florida and the Marlins was criticized by fans and media. Over the past few years, Waltz has called MLB for

and

Turner Sports TNT Sports is the division of Warner Bros. Discovery in the United States that is responsible for Sports broadcasting, sports broadcasts on its parent company's streaming service, Max (streaming service), Max, and primarily the TruTV, TBS (Americ ...

, including the Cubs' Alec Mills no-hitter, the sixth MLB no-hitter he has announced. Waltz also called the 2020 AL Wild Card Series for TBS alongside

Jimmy Rollins James Calvin Rollins (born November 27, 1978), nicknamed "J-Roll", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (–), Los Angeles Dodgers (), and Chicago White S ...

Broadcasting career

Major League Baseball

From 2012 to 2015, Waltz called games on Fox's Saturday Baseball package, and he has filled in on

's Thursday Night Baseball coverage. Waltz has called four

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC), also referred to as the Classic, is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the sport's global governing body, and organized in World Baseball Clas ...

s (WBC) for MLB Network; in 2013, 2017 and 2023 he partnered with

Buck Martinez John Albert "Buck" Martinez (born November 7, 1948) is an American former professional baseball catcher and manager, and is currently the television color commentator for the Toronto Blue Jays. He played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) ...

and called two rounds of the WBC in Japan and Arizona. Waltz joined FSN Florida from

FSN Northwest Root Sports Northwest, sometimes branded simply as Root Sports, is an American regional sports network owned by the Seattle Mariners. Headquartered near Seattle in the city of Bellevue, Washington, the channel broadcasts regional coverage of sp ...

. He has also called Major League Baseball games for Fox,

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

, and FX nationally along with the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

and

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

broadcasts on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

in Canada. Waltz's

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit (baseball), hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in ...

s include

Aníbal Sánchez Aníbal Alejandro Sánchez Jr. (; born February 27, 1984) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut in 2006 with the Miami Marlins, Florida Marlins and also played for the Detroit Tigers, ...

's in September 2006,

Roy Halladay's perfect game On May 29, 2010, Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched the twentieth perfect game in Major League Baseball history, against the Florida Marlins in Sun Life Stadium. He retired all 27 batters, striking out 11. This was the first time ...

on May 29, 2010, and Henderson Alvarez's no-hitter against the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

on the final game of the

2013 Major League Baseball season The 2013 Major League Baseball season started on March 31 with a Sunday night game between the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros.

Other sports

Since 2014 Rich's College Football and Basketball has been with CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network. His CBS analysts have included Adam Archuleta, Aaron Murray, and Aaron Taylor. From 1997 to 2002, Waltz called college football games for ESPN, ESPN Radio and ABC in the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

, SEC and ACC conferences. His football experience also includes

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

for Fox,

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

Football for FSN, and NFL preseason games for the Seattle Seahawks. From 2010 to 2012, Waltz called games on ACC College Football Saturday and SEC Saturday Nights produced and distributed by Fox Sports Net and Raycom Sports. His college basketball work has included games in every major conference for Fox, ESPN, CBS, CBS Sports Network, and Raycom. In 2018 Waltz called the NBA Playoffs and the NCAA Tournament East Regional on TNT's VR platform. Waltz's ESPN assignments included the Women's NCAA basketball tournament,

Arena Football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...

, NCAA College Softball World Series,

Little League World Series The Little League World Series is an annual baseball tournament for children (primarily boys) aged 10 to 12 years old, held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Originally called the National Little League Tournament, it was later renamed for th ...

Regional Finals, and

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

. Waltz has also called both ATP and WTA events on Tennis Channel, including 2015 events from Dubai, Doha, and Buenos Aires. In the 2019, NCAA Super Regional on ESPN, he called the 19-strikeout no-hitter by Vanderbilt's Kumar Rocker.

Philanthropic work

In 2006, Waltz helped create and organize the FSN Fantasy Auction, which in 12 years raised more than $1.2 million for the Marlins Community Foundation. In 2008, he was honored by the Marlins with their Community Service Award.

Playing career

Waltz played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

, first for Los Medanos College in

Pittsburg, California Pittsburg (formerly Black Diamond, New York Landing and New York of the Pacific) is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. It is an industrial suburb located on the southern shore of the Suisun Bay in the East Bay region of t ...

, then at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

. He was a starting

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

for the Aggies on two

conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

championship teams.

References

External links

Miami Marlins Website

FSNFlorida.com

Paramount Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waltz, Rich Living people Arena football announcers American soccer commentators College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Miami Marlins announcers NFL announcers NFL Europe broadcasters People from Coral Springs, Florida People from Martinez, California Seattle Mariners announcers Seattle Seahawks announcers Toronto Blue Jays announcers University of California, Davis alumni 1962 births