Connor Shreve

One of my friends, Connor Shreve, is in his first year broadcasting Kinston Indians baseball in the Class A Carolina League.
He's a talented young fellow who last year was broadcasting for the Hunstville Stars in Alabama in the Southern League. He's announced several different sports and once again is in the baseball booth this season. I shot him an e-mail with some questions and here are his answers. I thought it would be interesting to get the viewpoints of a current minor league baseball broadcaster.
Thanks Connor.
BR
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What are your duties with the Kinston Indians?
At home games, I serve as the P.A. Announcer for the beginning and end of the game and get to handle the radio play by play for the middle three innings. On the road, I am the more typical #2 broadcaster with color broadcast duties most of the game and lead play by play duties for the middle three innings. I also co-host our weekly half hour T.V. show, "Tribe Talk" (generally a long form player interview).
office duties: prepare and distribute media notes/stat packs
-Update video board with player stats and headshots
-in charge of coordinating our advertising in the local newspaper and highway billboards
-prepare/design/order team card sets
-updating and marketing on social media sites such as facebook and twitter
-writing and posting game recaps and feature stories to our website kinstonindians.com
-print and distribute box scores to press box and both clubhouses

Favorite part of your job?
Nobody in this business, at least not for very long, does it for the money. That being said its fun to be around people who are having fun doing their job. Work is always better when the people around you want to be doing what they are doing. On top of that its fun to see first hand the major leaguers of tomorrow (I think I just came up with a slogan). I have been able to watch 2010 first rounder Drew Pomeranz make the first five starts of his professional career, rumor has it that Bryce Harper will be in this league within the next week or so and I'll be able to see him as well. To be able to interact with these guys on a daily basis is always interesting.

Least favorite part of the job?
From April-Sep, I don't have a life. Most people I tell about my job think all we do is broadcast. Last homestand (Mon-Sun) I made .70 cents an hour. When you put office duties on top of broadcast duties, a 12 hour day is very common. We play 140 games in 150 days, if one of those off days comes on a weekday, I still have to come in to the office. It is taxing both physically and mentally and can be tough on relationships.

Any funny stories so far?
My best story came during our opening homestand but the road trip I am currently on may be giving it a run for its money. As previously mentioned, one of my duties is to distribute box scores to the coaching staffs. After the second game of the season I entered the visiting clubhouse occupied by the Winston Salem Dash, a Chicago White Sox affiliate. Pitching coach Bobby Thigpen apparently needed some questions answered regarding the nightlife of Greenville and I was the man to give it to him. Greenville is a town to the north of Kinston and the home of East Carolina University. His exact question was, "How's the Hooters up in Greenville?" The next thing you know, I'm engaged in a very detailed conversation on all things Hooters with the one time single season saves leader himself.
Yesterday, we found out that the roof in Myrtle beach was not built with sides which makes the inside very intriguing to the local birds, fitting since the team is called the Pelicans. Apparently from their nest its rather easy to drop down in to the visiting press box, mind you this is only an issue in the visiting radio booth. Each of last two days we have had a very scared bird drop in to the booth, you can probably figure what a frightened and scared bird does once he finds himself staring down to boring. One of us has to go find the worker who also doubles as the "bird catcher" to come take care of our bird problem with his special bird catchin' bucket. Its quite a scene.

Biggest challenge covering minor league baseball?
For me it's balancing unbiased opinion vs. keeping players/families/fans as happy as possible. I have a tendency to be a little blunt and because I haven't been with a team for more than one year yet (2010 w/Huntsville, 2011 w/Kinston) I don't have an emotional connection with anyone on the field. It helps me make an even call but in some instances can fracture your working relationship with managers or players, which can make your job tougher. Its only happened once but the manager and I sat down and worked it out without any issues. Generally just being on the field and in the clubhouse, regularly watching BP goes a long way in limiting those kinds of issues.

How would you rate your home ballpark?
Historic Grainger Stadium is truly one of the gems of the Carolina League. It was built in the 1940's and had significant renovations completed in 2002, so the money being out back in to it has kept in stellar shape. We have been an Indians affiliate for 25 years and legends have played here like Paul Shuey, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez C.C. Sabathia etc. The players love it because Grainger's playing surface is widely regarded as one of the best in minor league baseball. The press box is a little odd as the radio booths are small and the windows don't open but that's my only minor complaint. http://www.ballparkreviews.com/kinston/kinston.htm

Which Kinston Indians players would you predict will be future major leaguers?
Our pitching staff has been very good and has a few future major leaguers. Drew Pomeranz will certainly get a shot. A closer out of the University of Arizona, Preston Guilmet has been lock down and should get his chance at the upper levels as well. The Indians pitching staff is incredibly young but almost all of them have been impressive-Clayton Cook and Giovanni Soto (not the Cub, its spelled differently) both project as solid back of the rotation type guys at the big league level. As far as dark horse candidates go, if Adam Abraham can get back to his early season form, he has great power and is a former hockey player in the OHL so he has the athleticism to do good things at third base. Also, Colorado boy Tyler Sturdevant has been very good this season. The reliever from Littleton has been solid most of his career; He will have to have something happen soon though, as he is already 25 yrs old. "Sturdie" has been impressing the scouts lately and is one of the nicest guys on the team. If he is blocked in Cleveland it would not surprise me if another team asks to have him thrown in in some kind of deal at some point.

What advice you would give to aspiring baseball announcers?
First commit. It takes a huge sacrifice so decide wholeheartedly its what you want to do before going after it. Be willing to intern for a year or two. Get as many on air opportunities as possible, this is the key to improving. Also, listen to yourself. This can be one of the most painful experiences because you are often harder on yourself than anyone else but that allows you to catch some flaws others wont hear. Finally, network. People are the biggest reason for hirings in this business. Pros can help your career by offering advice on your work and serve as references.