For the Spring Breakout games, some people were invited by their parent clubs to call the games. Some of the MLB clubs didn’t set anything up and there was no broadcast scheduled, so it seemed like MLB started reaching out to broadcasters from various affiliates to fill those openings. 

I’ve been going to Spring Training for years. Some parent clubs I’ve worked with have invited me to call games, some have not. I don’t really have an itch to call the games down there but there is plenty of other stuff I want from those trips. My bosses in Richmond are always enthusiastic about sending us out, but we always have a plan to make it worth it and I am fortunate that they understand the value of those things. If you’re going to pitch for your team to send you, you have to have a plan and it needs to make sense overall as something that is beneficial for the club and not necessarily just a cool thing for you to do. The value that we see in me, my broadcaster partner and our social guy is built around:

– Have ideas to get content, whether it’s written pieces, interviews for social/broadcast/podcast, and if you can find a way to monetize it through coordinating with sponsorship, etc., even better. Talk to alumni who are in the majors now, but have a plan for something original and interesting, not just same standard questions they’ve answered a thousand times. 

– Use it as an opportunity to build relationships with your parent club. Get to know the PR staff, maybe the broadcasters if they’re accessible/approachable. But be conscious and respectful of their time.

– Once the morning media availability time ends with the big league club, go spend some time at the backfields. Unless I have something specific I need, I rarely stick around for the big league spring games. If they allow it at the minor league complex, get some footage or interviews to get your fans back home excited for the upcoming season. Introduce yourself to player development staff. 

If you get to go, these are some things I thought were worth passing along that popped into my head, all from various scenes I’ve witnessed from other minor league people:

– Understand where you can and cannot be and what you can and cannot do. It takes a little feel and awareness that sometimes you just don’t have if you haven’t been around. 

– Don’t show up wearing shorts and flip flops.

– Don’t chase a former player of your club who is now an MLB manager into a lounge area of the clubhouse that is not open to media asking for an interview.

– Don’t do an Instagram live stream of the game from the press box. 

– Don’t make every conversation you have with people be about something you want them to do for you. Just be a human talking to another human. Build relationships. You’ll probably get way more out of that in the long run anyway.

– Don’t be a doofus. Most likely, nobody owes you anything. Act accordingly. 

If you’re not already being invited, then you’ll have to lobby. It’s important to be in person with the organizational people: the folks behind the scenes, the coordinators, the rovers, the farm director, the coaches, everyone. Your relationships with the MLB people benefits the affiliate, and this is how you strengthen those relationships.

And: People are relaxed in spring training, which leads to great conversations.

Let me add one more item to Trey’s fine list.
– Arrive everywhere early.