(April 19, 2016) Having minimal baseball play-by-play experience is an obvious detriment to landing a broadcasting job in affiliated minor league baseball. Andrew Haynes, though, found ways to work around it. An STAA member, Haynes is the new Director of Broadcasting for the Idaho Falls Chukars.
The Chukars are the Class-A short-season affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.
“The Chukars will present a good opportunity for me to get my feet wet in the baseball world,” says Haynes. ” I’ll also be able to work with and learn from longtime Chukars home voice John Balginy. And, of course, the affiliation with the defending World Series champs can’t hurt!”
Haynes will join John Balginy in the booth for all Chukars home games, as well as handling broadcasting duties when the team is on the road
STAA members were notified of the Chukars opening in January. Haynes was immediately intrigued but knew his resume wasn’t what minor league teams typically seek. He was working full-time at a Fresno, CA credit union, running the audio board at the local ESPN radio affiliate, and broadcasting a few high school baseball games and Fresno State University softball.
“The lack of reps was probably one of my biggest hurdles to overcome,” says Haynes. “I haven’t had much on-air time for baseball, and softball just isn’t the same, so finding quality audio to include on baseball demos was tough. In addition, it wouldn’t surprise me if teams didn’t give me much of a look because of the lack of baseball on my resume itself.”
Haynes wasn’t totally inexperienced in the ways of minor league baseball. He spent summer 2010 as a media relations intern with the independent East Texas Pump Jacks. By mid-season, he had taken over as their lead broadcaster as well. Still, Haynes knew he would have to stand out in other ways with the Chukars to make up for what his resume lacked.
“The presentation of my STAA Talent Page and having my resume, demos and writing samples all in one place gave a very professional look. In the past I would attach five or six files to an email to apply for a job, and I can only imagine how time-consuming and annoying it must have been to download and listen to all of that. I also took [STAA’s] advice in following up with the team after sending my application and after interviews. Reminding the team who I was every so often probably helped quite a bit.”
Haynes, who was born and raised in Fresno, graduated from Fresno State in 2009.
(Visit Andrew’s STAA Talent Page).