In a sense, it’s quite surprising that the MLBPA agreed to mic’d-up, in-game interviews for the regular season. Players — particularly middle infielders — constantly have to focus on defensive alignments and be prepared to field a ball, which can be tough to do while having a conversation.
But it DOES make for excellent television, so we’re glad that MLB players have learned to multi-task this season. The broadcast feature has provided some great moments like what we saw with Trea Turner on Sunday against the Marlins.
Turner was mic’d up for Peacock’s broadcast, and mid-conversation, a hard grounder from Garrett Cooper went straight towards the Dodgers shortstop. We got to hear Turner vocalize his struggles with the grounder before recovering to make the play. Baseball broadcasts honestly need more of this.
Trea Turner with some live analysis of himself fielding a grounder. 🔊 pic.twitter.com/DJsWuBEHKY
— MLB (@MLB) August 28, 2022
The “hey, yeah — oh, no” from Turner might have been the best sequence to come from these interviews. Had he booted that play, Turner joked that he was ready to blame the broadcast for it. But instead, he walked everyone through what happened on the play and why he wasn’t able to field it cleanly at first.
MLB fans loved the in-the-moment analysis from Turner.