Behind the Mic: Fox, MLB Network Add Raul Ibanez, Pedro Martinez for MLB Coverage; Costas Joins PBC on NBC

Fox Sports has announced its MLB broadcasters lineup for this year, adding former All-Star slugger Raúl Ibañez as an analyst and play-by-play announcers Joe Davis and Aaron Goldsmith. A veteran of 19 MLB seasons, Ibañez joins the network’s pregame and postgame coverage as a studio analyst and contributes to FOX Sports 1’s studio programming throughout the season. Davis pivots from calling college football and basketball games for FOX Sports 1 to the diamond. A minor-league baseball announcer, Davis called select FOX Sports 1 MLB telecasts in 2014, but enters this season with a full schedule of games. Goldsmith also calls his first full season of baseball games on FOX Sports this season after calling independent league games early in his career. In 2013, Goldsmith served as the Seattle Mariners’ the play-by-play announcer and he has served as a play-by-play announcer for college basketball on FOX Sports 1 and for college football on FOX Sports’ Regional Networks….

Seven-time Emmy Award-winning play-by-play announcer Joe Buck and analysts Harold Reynolds and Tom Verducci return in Fox’s A-game booth, along with in-game reporters Erin Andrews and Ken Rosenthal. Returning analysts also include recently-elected Hall of Famer John Smoltz, former Los Angeles Dodgers star Eric Karros and 10-year veteran pitcher CJ Nitkowski. FOXSports.com senior MLB writer and insider Jon Paul Morosi contributes both in studio and on remote as a field reporter. Veteran play-by-play voice Kenny Albert, who has called baseball games for the network since 2001, returns, as does announcer Justin Kutcher.

FOX Sports’ Los Angeles studio coverage is anchored by MLB on FOX host Kevin Burkhardt, and features Frank Thomas, Karros, Nitkowski, 14-year veteran Mark Sweeney, and Ibañez…

…MLB Network has added Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez to its roster of MLB full-time MLB analysts in 2015. After serving as part of TBS’ postseason coverage the past two seasons — a role in which he will continue — Martinez will join MLB Network come opening week and serve as an analyst for multiple shows. Martinez will serve as a pre-game analyst before the first MLB Network showcase game of the season on Friday, April 10. (USA Today)…

…NBC continues to bolster its Premier Boxing Champions talent, as Bob Costas will serve as a special contributor for NBC’s Saturday, April 11 primetime telecast of PBC on NBC. Costas, host Al Michaels, and blow-by-blow announcer Marv Albert will work together on a broadcast for the first time ever on the PBC on NBC show from Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Costas will present a feature on the long and storied history of boxing in New York. Michaels, Albert, and Costas will be joined on the telecast by analyst and six-time world champion “Sugar” Ray Leonard, corner analyst B.J. Flores, and reporter Kenny Rice…

…MLB Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt will add Saturday home games to his Philadelphia Phillies broadcasting duties on Comcast Sportsnet this year, joining the broadcast team of Tom McCarthy, Matt Stairs, Ben Davis and Gregg Murphy for 26 broadcasts in 2015, up from 13 games last season. Schmidt’s first Saturday broadcast will be on April 11th when the Phillies take on the Washington Nationals at 7 p.m. on The Comcast Network…

…Sky Sports journalist Kate Abdo has joined FOX Sports to serve as a studio host for the network’s coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 in Canada later this year. Abdo anchors Sky Sports News in the UK and earlier this year hosted the FIFA Ballon d’Or ceremony in Zurich (Cristiano Ronaldo’s third award as the world’s best player).  She has also hosted Sky Sports’ coverage of the Premier League’s Deadline Day and European soccer coverage including the UEFA European Qualifiers and Coppa Italia. Abdo joins Rob Stone, FOX Sports’ prime time studio host for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.  Both Abdo and Stone anchor programming from the network’s customized two-story state-of-the-art studio center on picturesque Coal Harbor in Vancouver.  Abdo hosted FOX Sports 1’s coverage of the prestigious Algarve Cup earlier this month from Los Angeles, and with Stone in Los Angeles and Abdo based in Ottawa, the pair hosted FOX Sports’ FIFA Women’s World Cup Draw show last December.  Abdo began her sports broadcasting career at DW-TV, a German TV channel, before joining CNN in 2009, where she covered the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa among other top soccer events and leagues.  More recently, Abdo made her mark at Sky Deutschland as lead anchor and face of the channel’s Sky Sports News program before moving to Sky Sports in the UK in 2014…

…Turner Sports sideline reporter Craig Sager’s leukemia has returned and he is now undergoing another round of treatment. The setback comes just three weeks after his return to the sidelines on March 5 and prevenets him from covering the NCAA Tournament as expected (SportsMediaWatch)…

…“Hot” Rod Hundley, a former NBA player who broadcast Jazz games in New Orleans and Utah for 35 years, died March 27 at his home near Phoenix. He was 80. Hundley broadcast 3,051 Jazz games from 1974 to 2009. He joined the franchise before its first season in New Orleans in 1974-75 and moved with the team to Salt Lake City in 1979-80. A star West Virginia University and then the Lakers in Minneapolis and Los Angeles, Hundley also was a broadcaster for four seasons with the Phoenix Suns and four with the Lakers and called NBA games for CBS. (AP)…

…CNN announced that Coy Wire has officially become part of the CNN Sports team as a fulltime anchor and contributor. The CSE client will now be anchoring Bleacher Report for HLN Weekend Express segments, event coverage and be an expert contributor across all platforms including CNN New Day and HLN Morning Express with Robin Meade. (Cynopsis Sports)…

…Steve Smith Sr. – the two-time All-Pro and five-time pro Bowl wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers, currently with the Baltimore Ravens – has joined the roster of expert hosts on SiriusXM NFL Radio, channel 88. Smith will host The Opening Drive alongside co-host Bob Papa every other Wednesday live from 7:00 to 11:00 am ET, beginning April 1…

…PGA TOUR professional Pat Perez and former comedian and caddy turned commentator Michael Collins are teaming up for a new show on the SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio channel. Perez and Collins will host Out of Bounds, The monthly show, which debuted on March 24, will feature the hosts’ often lighthearted view on the game and its headline stories, as well as an entertaining golf conversation with fans and personalities from the PGA TOUR and other sports. Perez, a 14-year PGA TOUR veteran, earned more than $15 million in prize money over the course of his career. Collins worked as a pro caddy for 10 years and went on to become a commentator for SiriusXM’s PGA TOUR coverage.  He currently also works for ESPN.com as a golf video blogger and writer.

In other SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio news, best-selling author and columnist John Feinstein has will host A Good Walk Spoiled with John Feinstein, which debuted on March 23 and will air weekly from 1:00 to 2:00 pm ET. Named for Feinstein’s best-selling book about life on the PGA TOUR, A Good Walk Spoiled will feature long-form interviews with some of golf’s most intriguing personalities, as well as John’s perspective on the game’s current events and stories. In addition to hosting weekly on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio, Feinstein will also host regularly on SiriusXM’s College Sports Nation channel. Feinstein is one of the nation’s most successful and prolific sports authors, having written 29 books that delve into a wide range of professional and college sports. As a columnist, he also writes for The Washington Post and Golf Digest, appears on Golf Channel, and has contributed to Sports Illustrated, The National Sports Daily and the Sporting News…

…Former Panthers general manager Marty Hurney and his partner Lanny Ford, who do “Inside the Lines” at 1 p.m. on WZGV-AM (ESPN 730), have expanded their franchise to a 10 a.m. weekday show on Yahoo Sports Radio. Hurney, fired in October 2012 after the team started 1-5 in 2012, spent more than a decade as Panthers’ general manager. He has also worked as a guest analyst on ESPN’s “NFL Insiders” and was a sportswriter for The Washington Times before joining the Panthers’ personnel department in 1998. (Charlotte Observer)…