Chris Welsh is in his 28th season as Reds TV analyst following a 5-year Major League career with the Padres, Expos, Rangers and Reds. Chris went 21-31 with a 4.45 ERA, 8 complete games and 3 shutouts in 122 career appearances, including 75 starts. From 1993-2009 Chris and partner George Grande worked together for the 17 seasons as the longest-running TV duo in Reds history. He is a graduate of Cincinnati’s St. Xavier High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida, where his baseball coach was Hall of Famer Robin Roberts. In addition to his television work, Chris is active in several local charities. He serves on the Board of the Powell Crosley Jr. Amateur Baseball Fund, which oversees the Kid Glove Games. He is a partner in Champions Baseball Academy and a featured speaker at many local venues. Chris created and operates baseballrulesacademy.com, an interactive website designed to teach the rules of baseball by use of video lessons and quizzes.
Jeff Brantley is in his 14th season as a member of the Reds Radio and Reds TV broadcast teams. He was hired in October 2006. After he retired as a player following the 2001 season, Brantley joined ESPN as an in-game analyst and also as a studio analyst on the network’s popular Baseball Tonight show. In March 2006, he broadcast several telecasts of the inaugural World Baseball Classic. Brantley spent 14 seasons in the Major Leagues and enjoyed some of his best years while pitching for the Reds from 1994-1997, when he posted a 2.64 ERA and 88 saves. He is tied for sixth on the club’s all-time saves list. In 1996 he earned the Rolaids Relief Man Award after leading the National League with 44 saves. His 44 saves that season remains the Reds’ single-season record. Brantley also pitched for the Giants, Cardinals, Phillies and Rangers. He was an All-Star for San Francisco in 1990 and finished his career with 172 saves and a 3.39 ERA in 615 games. He is enshrined on the Giants’ Wall of Fame at AT&T Park. Brantley is a graduate of Mississippi State University, where he led the Bulldogs to a third-place finish at the College World Series. He was a 4-year letterwinner for MSU and was named first-team All-American in 1985. A member of the Mississippi State Hall of Fame, Brantley’s uniform number 8 was retired in 2000. In 2010 he was inducted into the State of Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and in February 2019 was a member of the inaugural class of the prestigious Ron Polk Ring of Honor along with Will Clark, the late David “Boo” Ferriss, the late C.R. “Dudy” Noble and Rafael Palmeiro. He has been involved in several youth baseball groups like Garth Brooks’ “Teammates for Kids” and an inner-city baseball program in Jackson, Mississippi. Jeff and wife Ashley have 2 children, Elizabeth and Mason. He has two other children, Emily and Murphy.
Jim Day is in his 19th season covering the Reds for FOX Sports Ohio, returning to TV full-time in 2020 by splitting time working both play-by-play in the broadcast booth and on the sidelines for in-game coverage. For the 10th straight year, he will sit in the play-by-play chair during TV game broadcasts in the absence of Thom Brennaman. In 2018 and 2019, Day split duties between Reds TV and Reds on Radio, covering radio play-by-play duties during the off days of Hall of Famer Marty Brennaman and Jeff Brantley while also working TV play-by-play in addition to his pre- and post-game show stints. For 17 seasons, he served as the main host of the Emmy Award-winning pre- and post-game shows, Reds Live. In 2019, he was nominated for the National Sports Media Association’s Sportscaster of the Year Award for Ohio. Day is an Emmy Award-winning reporter with 31 years’ experience in sports broadcasting. After graduating from Otterbein College, Day worked at WSYX-TV as an anchor/reporter in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Following a 3-year stay at WFTS-TV in Tampa, Day returned to his roots to work for FOX Sports Net Ohio. He has served in various roles for FOX Sports Ohio while covering every major sport for the network.
For the ninth straight season, former infielder Doug Flynn will broadcast select games on the Reds on Radio network. He previously co-hosted with Jeff Piecoro FOX Sports Ohio's 30-minute magazine show, Reds Weekly. He has experience in broadcasting as the color commentator for University of Kentucky baseball, returning to that booth again in 2020, and the Kentucky high school state baseball championships. From 2012-2016, Doug was the color man for the USA vs Canada softball game on ESPN3 and in 2014 and 2015 he was on the broadcast team for the CBS Sports Network’s Minor League Game of the Week. He also has co-hosted a television show about high school sports and a radio show geared toward fishing and currently hosts Kentucky Life, a show on Kentucky Education TV about the history of the state. Signed by the Reds in August 1971 as an amateur free agent out of the University of Kentucky, Flynn played in the Major Leagues for 11 seasons with the Reds, Mets, Expos, Rangers and Tigers. He appeared in 89 games in 1975 and 93 games in 1976 as the Big Red Machine won consecutive World Series titles. In 1980 while with New York, he won the Rawlings Gold Glove Award for second basemen and remains the only Mets player to win that award at that position. Doug lives in Lexington with his wife, Olga, and dogs Buddy and Jaxson.
Jeff Piecoro enters his 22nd season covering the Reds for FOX Sports Ohio. He has hosted the Emmy Award-winning pre- and post-game shows, Reds Live, and co-hosted with former Big Red Machine infielder Doug Flynn a 30-minute magazine show, Reds Weekly. He has been with the FOX Sports family for 23 years. Piecoro, who played football at the University of Kentucky from 1980-84, currently serves as the color analyst for Wildcats football games and has worked as the television play-by-play announcer for the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University men’s basketball teams. He currently is the play-by-play voice for the University of Dayton and FOX Sports Regional and also does play-by-play on the SEC Network for men and women's basketball. Jeff has broadcast almost every major sport, including 9 Kentucky Derby races and 7 Breeders’ Cup world thoroughbred championships. Jeff resides in Northern Kentucky with his children Nicholas, Olivia and Ali.
Brian Giesenschlag is in his 16th season covering the Reds, his seventh as co-host of the Emmy Award-winning Reds Live pre- and post-game shows on FOX Sports Ohio. Before joining Jeff Piecoro on the Reds Live desk, Brian was the feature reporter for Reds Live while also working as a sports anchor at Cincinnati’s WXIX-TV (FOX). He also covers the NHL as co-host of FOX Sports Ohio’s Columbus Blue Jackets Live pre- and post-game shows. A native Texan and graduate of Baylor University, Brian worked at several television outlets in his home state before moving to Ohio. He and wife Julie live in Cincinnati with their children Zachary, Brock and Ava.
Tommy Thrall is in his second full season broadcasting for the Reds, his first as the full-time play-by-play announcer on rights holder 700 WLW Radio. In 2018, the 15-year broadcasting veteran called 3 Reds games in spring training and then 3 games near the end of the regular season. In 2019, he broadcast 66 games on radio. Beginning in 2020, he will host the Reds’ new Star of the Game post-game segment. Before joining the organization full-time in 2019, Thrall spent 7 years broadcasting radio and TV games for Class AA Pensacola. While in Pensacola, he also served as the play-by-play voice for football and basketball for the University of West Florida. Thrall began working in professional baseball as an intern for the Kansas City T-Bones while earning his degree from Northwest Missouri State University. He went on to work for Class A Myrtle Beach and Quad Cities before making the move to Pensacola. Thrall has filled various roles in broadcasting, including TV sports anchor and reporter on WEAR-TV in Pensacola, sports talk host on ESPN Pensacola and host of UWF’s weekly television coach’s show.
Danny Graves is in his third season filling in on Reds on Radio broadcasts. The franchise’s all-time leader with 182 career saves, Graves pitched in Cincinnati in 9 of his 11 Major League seasons. In 518 career appearances from 1996-2006, including 30 starts, Graves went 43-33 with a 4.05 ERA and 182 saves for the Reds, Indians and Mets. The righthander was a National League All-Star in 2000 and 2004 and in 2002 won the prestigious Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, presented annually to a Major League Baseball player who best exemplifies the giving character of the Hall of Famer. After he retired from baseball following the 2006 season, Graves became a Major League Baseball analyst for a digital sports network 120 Sports/Stadium. He also has worked color commentary for ESPN at the Little League World Series regional tournament, for ESPNU covering ACC baseball and for CBS Sports Network covering college baseball. Graves most recently served as an analyst for ESPN Radio, MLB.com and Sirius XM MLB Network Radio while guest hosting MLB Now on MLB Network.
Sam LeCure is in his third season working on the Emmy Award-winning Reds Live pre- and post-game shows on FOX Sports Ohio. The righthanded pitcher made 250 Major League appearances, all for the Reds from 2010-2015 and including 10 starts, and finished his career with a 10-16 record and a 3.51 ERA. He contributed to National League Central Division championships in 2010 and 2012 and to a berth in the NL Wild Card game in 2013, the franchise’s best run of playoff appearances since the Big Red Machine dynasty of the 1970s. Since his retirement from baseball following the 2015 season, LeCure has taken volunteer trips to Indonesia and South Africa to help rebuild communities and help the local children.
