Former MLB pitcher Matt Capps didn’t plan on a post-playing career in broadcasting, but Pittsburgh Pirates fans are glad he has.
Eight members of the Pirates’ broadcasting team work the games shown on SportsNet Pittsburgh. You have your play-by-play callers led by Greg Brown, and there are the former players; analysts, such as Capps, provide expert information, explaining what and why just took place on the field.
For some analysts, going from the clubhouse to being positioned with a microphone on the field is a natural progression. Others need some encouragement to give broadcasting a try. Capps, 40, is now in his fourth MLB season as a voice to Pirates’ followers on gameday, and the transition has come gradually.
“The Pirates organization is something special to me. I’ve always held onto my association with them,” said Capps, who was selected by Pittsburgh in the seventh round of the June 2002 MLB amateur draft. “All the time that I moved around in my playing career, I always kept track of the Pirates. It’s always been a special place for me.”
During a recent Pirates homestand that included games with Philadelphia and St. Louis, Capps worked the radio side of games heard on SportsRadio 93.7 The Fan and KDKA-AM 1020 alongside Joe Block, a member of the Pirates’ broadcast team since 2016. Keeping his views on the game and delivering his expertise to listeners fresh, Capps enjoys being an extension of his audience.
Coming home to the Pirates’ family was unexpected. At a time when he was dealing with the loss of his father and being removed from the Pittsburgh organization for a decade, Capps’ plate was full. While living in Greater Atlanta, being a broadcaster back east wasn’t on Capps’ radar.
Two years after throwing his last professional pitch, during the 2016 Triple-A season with the Reno Aces, at age 32, Capps’s life came to a fork in the road. Since being signed by the Pirates coming out of Alexander High School in Douglasville, Georgia, as a teenager, baseball is all the right-handed hurler knew.
Five of his eight big-league seasons were spent in Pittsburgh. There would be many highlights for Capps to look back on in retirement.
For the American League, representing the Washington Nationals in the 2010 MLB All-Star Game, Capps is in the record books as the winning pitcher. Striking out future Hall of Famer David Ortiz, who had won the Home Run Derby the evening before, to end the game, is right up there as far as big moments for Capps.
However, every pro knows that from when they sign their first contract, the clock begins ticking on when it’s time to hang up their cleats. For some, the process comes quicker than anticipated. Others, the lucky ones, get to be in the game and leave on their own terms.
“The black and gold is ingrained in me,” says Capps, who started the 2008 season for Pittsburgh with 15 consecutive saves. “When I was playing, broadcasting never crossed my mind.”
Fast-forward to the Pirates’ 2018 season. Capps’ name came up in a conversation concerning an opening on the AT&T SportsNet team. There was a call for a pre-and post-game studio host extended to Capps, who last threw a pitch in an MLB game in September 2012.
“I thought about it,” recalls Capps, saying he entertained the offer.
Accepting the offer for two seasons, Capps launched his second baseball career with the Pirates. Now, in his fourth season of being heard on the radio and seen on Pirates’ TV, Capps is settled with confidence.
With 444 MLB innings under his belt pitching for three clubs (Pirates, Nationals, and Twins), Capps is successfully growing his broadcasting brand. This season, he is seen offering up his expertise on the Roku Channel’s MLB Sunday Leadoff telecasts.
With MLB’s first game of the day, usually seen at 11:30 AM or 12:05 PM (eastern time), Capps has been working alongside Bally Sports South’s Brandon Gaudin during selected broadcasts. With limited work schedules together, both seem to have jelled in rapid time of working as teammates.
Capps knows what viewers want to hear and see. Growing up less than 25 miles from Atlanta, Braves baseball, produced by Turner Sports and carried by the Superstation WTBS for over 30 years, was a staple for Capps to follow his hometown club.
“I’ve been a baseball junkie since I was a kid. I saw all the Braves’ games on WTBS.”
When pitchers have difficulty with their deliveries while he's at work before a microphone, Capps offers accurate analyses of the whys and what's happening. He understands the struggles that come with the job.
There have been multiple surgeries during Capps’ playing times. Seasons, such as 2012 when Capps remembers his body feeling really good. Then, he also reflects on the surgery he had in June 2013. It took Capps three more seasons to feel “good” again.
“My stuff never came back. The velocity I had enjoyed previously in my career just wasn’t there anymore.”
By March 2017, Capps contacted his agent to inform him that he was done pitching. From rethinking how he pitched to the likes of Ortiz and Albert Pujols to being on the outside looking in at baseball, the transition wasn’t an easy one for Capps.
But having a second chance to contribute to baseball, particularly with the Pirates, is fulfilling. Capps, coming full circle with the organization where he made his Pirates’ MLB debut in September 2005, is able to talk Pirates baseball, which is a gift that keeps on giving.
