Fox Sports South broadcaster Jeff Francoeur discusses calling MLB games in COVID-19 times

As more and more parts of everyday life continue to be distorted by the COVID-19 pandemic, MLB baseball is the next thing to look different in 2020. Fox Sports South broadcaster and former Atlanta Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur is among those who will have an interesting view of the sport the next few months.

Francoeur, the former Parkview star who calls the Braves’ games with fellow analyst Tom Glavine and play-by-play announcer Chip Caray, will have to adjust to calling games with no fans and no travel permitted. This means the broadcasters will have to call Atlanta’s road games watching a live camera feed sent from the away teams’ stadium to the broadcasting booth at the Braves’ home in Truist Park.

Atlanta’s opener is Friday on the road against the New York Mets. Francoeur won’t be able to call that game after announcing Tuesday that he tested positive for the coronavirus.

“I think the weird thing, honestly, is when the team is on the road when you’re at home calling the game off a monitor and the team is somewhere else playing. Even when the team is at home, you’re going to be watching them still,” Francoeur said. “So, at least you’re going to have eyes on them at home. You’re going to see the flight of the ball and you’re going to see what’s going on. When the team is on the road, you’re not going to get to see any of that, so I think it’ll be interesting to see how that goes.”

While it will certainly be tough for Francoeur as an analyst, he believes Caray will be affected the most by having to watch the game on TV.

“I think it’s going to make it a lot harder on Chip especially because he’s the one calling the action,” Francoeur said. “I think he’s going to have to be a little patient. When you are watching a game on TV and the ball gets hit in the air, you might think it was hit really hard and it ends up being just a lazy fly ball to center field. I think the play-by-play people are going to have to be a little more patient.”

Like so many others, Francoeur would love to see at least a small amount of fans socially distanced at the ballpark this season. However, the logistics and obstacles in the way of getting fans to the ballpark might require too much time and money for it to happen.

“Sometimes you think, okay, there is a way to put 20 percent to 25 percent and be safe,” Francoeur said. “On the other hand, is it worth it from a financial standpoint from what all you have to go through to do it? Who do you choose? Who gets to come? That being said, you can look at it and say, you know it would be a lot harder to do. Those are the tough questions that might make it too tough to even try to do.”

Even with all of the limitations on this upcoming season like no fans and just 60 games, Francoeur is more excited than ever to see America’s Pastime return.

“I think it’s great to play baseball. I think the country needs it. I just got back from the beach. People want to see sports. They want to see some normalcy,” Francoeur said. “When people ask, ‘Is it going to be a legit season? How do you count it when it’s only 60 games?’ I say, ‘When you see Gerrit Cole and Max Scherzer face off next Thursday night, I don’t know if there’s anything more legit than that. These are great players and they will be good games.’”

Fox Sports South