Broadcast team brings back Brown, Palmer

SARASOTA, Fla. — The band is staying together.

Orioles play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown, analyst Jim Palmer and the rest of the main broadcast crew are returning in 2024, the club said Friday. The team will continue to announce games on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network and on the Orioles Radio Network.

The 2024 season will be Brown’s sixth with the Orioles and third as the club’s primary television play-by-play announcer on MASN. Palmer, the best pitcher in franchise history, is returning for his 32nd season as an analyst and 61st as a member of the Orioles organization.

Brown was removed from the club’s television broadcasts in July after listing off statistical facts about Baltimore’s poor play in previous seasons and was off the air for almost three weeks. The removal outraged some Orioles fans, who chanted “Free Kevin Brown” during a game at Camden Yards.

The only new member to the team is Ben Wagner, who joins the Orioles’ broadcast crew from the Toronto Blue Jays. He will appear on both radio and television broadcasts throughout the season, the Orioles said in a news release.

Wagner spent the past six seasons as a play-by-play announcer with Sportsnet television and the Toronto Blue Jays Radio Network. He was previously with Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons, for 11 years.

“I am THRILLED to join the @ Orioles broadcast team. Let’s go O’s!” Wagner tweeted.

Ben McDonald, Geoff Arnold, Brett Hollander, Melanie Newman, Scott Garceau and Rob Long are also returning to the broadcast team.

MASN and the Orioles Radio Network will continue to have guest analysts throughout the season, including Mike Devereaux, Brian Roberts, Brad Brach and Dave Johnson.

Jason La Canfora, who joined the broadcast team in June 2023 as a contributor on game broadcasts and the “O’s Xtra” pre- and postgame shows, was not mentioned in the team’s news release as a guest analyst.