Coco Crisp will join A’s radio broadcasts in 2019

Yet another former favorite is back in the organization!

The Oakland A’s radio broadcasts are adding a new voice in 2019, as Coco Crisp will join the booth for 33 games as an analyst, the team announced Tuesday.

In addition to his in-game work, Coco “will be featured in content on the A’s channel on TuneIn,” according to the press release. He’ll debut on March 10, in a spring training game against the Giants.

“The time I spent in Oakland as a player was very special, so to come back in any role is exciting,” Crisp said, via the team’s press release. “This is a new venture for me – there’s excitement when you are doing something new in baseball and this is definitely new. I looked at how Dallas Braden transitioned as a player with Oakland and I always thought that this might be an opportunity. This was a no-brainer for me when it was presented.”

Coco played for the A’s from 2010-16 and was a beloved fan favorite. The outfielder helped lead them to three postseasons, with plenty of highlights along the way, and he was instrumental in popularizing the Bernie Lean dance craze that defined that 2012 squad. Athletics Nation voted him as the unofficial team captain in 2013, reflecting his presence in the clubhouse and his vocal, outgoing personality.

A’s games can be heard this season on KTRB 860 AM*, after the club left its previous radio home last fall. The rest of the in-game crew is the same as usual, with Ken Korach and Vince Cotroneo on full-time duty and Ray Fosse helping out when he’s not on TV. The pregame and postgame will be hosted by Chris Townsend, another familiar voice.

* Or KHTK 1140 in Sacramento, or streaming on TuneIn

Last week the A’s also announced their 2019 TV schedule, which was free of any surprises. All the usual suspects are back in their same roles, from Ray to Glen Kuiper to Dallas Braden and Kara Tsuboi. There will be 147 games on NBC Sports California, and the rest will be on national channels like MLB Network, ESPN, and Fox Sports 1 (mostly the weekday morning/day games, and also some Saturdays). That aforementioned March 10 matchup against the Giants will also be televised on NBCS.

Oakland has invited several other former star players into the booth over recent years to try their talents at broadcasting, though it’s mostly happened on the TV side in the past. Scott Hatteberg, Eric Chavez, and Mark Mulder all gave it a go, and postgame analyst Dave Stewart has also stepped in to pinch-commentate before.

Analysis

Perfect! For years now, Athletics Nation has dreamed about getting some combination of Dallas Braden, Stephen Vogt, and Coco Crisp onto the broadcast crew. Now we’ve got two of them, and the other one isn’t even done playing yet so we can have some patience there. I can’t help but notice that the newbie is auditioning on radio now instead of TV, which makes sense since Braden has the TV role locked down for now.

Everyone loves Coco, who’s popularity was so great that it helped convince the notoriously cautious front office to give him three separate multi-year contracts as a player. This is yet another brilliant off-field move, and one that fans should easily be able to get excited about. Rooted in Oakland!