Phillies radio broadcast: Why Kevin Stocker is calling two innings of play-by-play next to Scott Franzke

PHILADELPHIA — The familiar voices of the Phillies radio broadcast have had a different sound this year — at least for the fourth and fifth innings.

Veteran broadcaster Scott Franzke, in his 20th season as the club’s main radio play-by-play voice, has taken a backseat to color commentator Kevin Stocker for two innings each time they’ve called a game together so far. In a new arrangement for the 2026 season, the former big leaguer Stocker is trying his hand at play-by-play for a couple of frames with Franzke doing color beside him before the two switch back for the rest of the game.

“We’ve been trying to get him to this moment,” Phillies manager of broadcasting Rob Brooks said of Stocker in an interview with Phillies Nation on Sunday at Citizens Bank Park. “Scott has always dreamed of having his partner share the load with him.”

Stocker, 56, has been the team’s primary radio color commentator since 2023, when longtime analyst and fellow 1993 National League champion Larry Andersen settled into a schedule of around 60 games. Prior to that, Stocker worked as a part-timer in 2018, but missed out on the full-time job in favor of Kevin Frandsen. Once Frandsen took a new job with the Nationals, the Phillies brought Stocker back in for the 2022 season. He was the one kept on board from a group that included Michael Bourn, Chad Durbin and Erik Kratz.

Over the past few years, Stocker has called a majority of the games during a very successful period in franchise history, developing into a familiar, trusted voice alongside Franzke. The Franzke-Stocker duo hasn’t quite yet reached the iconic status of a pairing like Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn or Franzke and LA, but it’s still early in its tenure and already a strong booth. The Phillies think that mixing up the roles could ultimately lead it to greater heights.

“To deepen the relationship and to really cement the partnership, we felt like they could go back and forth,” Brooks said. “Stock’s just got to be good enough. Whitey wasn’t the greatest play-by-play guy, but people learned to love him — if you give him time. So I’m looking to get Stock the time.”

Brooks said the idea of having Stocker do some play-by-play opportunities has been in the works since the former infielder was hired. In spring training, Stocker has split play-by-play duties with Gregg Murphy on select broadcasts that air on the Phillies’ and Major League Baseball’s websites. But a most of his reps will have to come live in regular-season games.

“It’s more of just getting him to the point where he’s comfortable enough to go out and do it,” Brooks said. “I mean, he’s going to make mistakes, and we all know that. But getting him to the point where he’s comfortable enough to say, ‘I feel like I can go through this. And yeah, I haven’t seen everything. I haven’t called everything yet, but I feel good enough that I’m not going to embarrass you. I’m not going to embarrass myself.'”

There might be growing pains, but Brooks said the Phillies will continue to have Stocker call two innings of play-by-play for each game he’s in the booth. Murphy, who’s filled in for Franzke in recent years when he’s off or slides over to the television side when Tom McCarthy is on another assignment, “will still be in the mix” and do play-by-play in those scenarios.

The Phillies did not make an announcement ahead of Stocker’s first broadcast of the season on April 3 when the club played the Rockies at Coors Field, so it was a surprise when Stocker assumed the play-by-play duties in the fourth and fifth. That was by design. The team did not want to draw too much attention to the slight shift in responsibilities, as to make listeners actually listen before drawing their conclusions.

“I would love to just let it be,” Brooks said. “When you tell people something, they make up their mind on the spot. Whereas they hear it, they might think he’s good, they might think he’s bad. But at least they get a chance to hear it, instead of making up their mind beforehand.”

Of course, Brooks and the Phillies realize that this might be a tough sell for some fans, even ones that gave Stocker on play-by-play an earnest shot. Stocker is a newbie to play-by-play who has fit into his role as a color commentator, and Franzke is a popular, polished broadcaster who can masterfully call nine innings a night. Why try to fix what isn’t broken?

“Because, truly, that’s not what Scott wants,” Brooks said. “At the end of the day, we’re moving more towards something that works for the people involved with it. Change happens, and this is an evolution.

“When we took Larry off the television, everybody couldn’t believe we did that. But then he and Scott became this partnership that flourished and took on a life of its own.”

With Stocker doing play-by-play for two innings a game, Franzke gets a bit of a breather. He’s still on the call as the de facto color commentator, but it’s less demanding for him. Brooks pointed out that most teams do not use one radio play-by-play commentator for all nine innings of every game. It’s only in the last handful of years that Franzke began to do so regularly, as Philadelphia Flyers play-by-play man Jim Jackson used to call the middle innings of Phillies games from 2010 until he was let go by the club in 2020.

The Phillies hope that, even though it could take some time to realize its full potential, having Stocker and Franzke swap roles for a portion of the game will get the most out of them as a unit by allowing them to push each other in different directions. The team knows that the broadcast was already entertaining and informative, but the Phillies are betting that the tweak can further enhance the listening experience.

“There’s always the possibility that what you have is good,” Brooks said. “But what if you could have something that’s great? What we have is good. What if we could have something that’s great? Should we sit on good and bypass the great? You got to take chances. You got to grow.”

The goal, Brooks said, is to help Stocker and Franzke develop the rapport necessary to become an elite duo, while also making sure the partners remain fresh and engaged all season.

“Just the way the LA-Franzke thing grew into this other thing, my hope is that Stock and Scott becomes this other thing,” Brooks said, “that they just are able to deepen their relationship. They have a bond that’s genuine that then becomes infectious to the people who listen, and this is the next step in sort of helping to create that.”