Fredericksburg Nationals Play-By-Play Announcer Goes Wild Over Stephen Strasburg Strikeouts During Rehab Assignment
By Liam McKeone
Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg is working his way back to the big leagues after he underwent yet another surgery last year. He's currently in Fredricksburg, Virginia on the Nationals' Single-A roster. On Monday, he put forth a sparkling performance as he threw five no-hit innings.
But Strasburg was not the main event yesterday. Far from it, in fact. Joey Zanaboni is the team's play-by-play announcer and correctly deduced that the attention paid to Strasburg's rehab also represented an opportunity for him to show out while on the call. And boy, did he ever. Zanaboni broke out a variety of insane metaphors and one-liners in quite a remarkable showing.
What's funny about these is that they don't make perfect sense but they make just enough sense to register as something other than nonsensical shouting and incite laughter. I enjoyed the OKCupid line, in particular.
This is not Zanaboni's first time getting attention for his... unusual calls. He went viral in 2019 for screaming "Shave my body hair like a domesticated sea bass" while calling the final out of the Appalachian League championship.
Excellent stuff, really. You certainly cannot say that Zanaboni doesn't get excited about what's unfolding in front of him, and that's what the audience generally likes from their PBP announcers. Someone give this guy a shot at the highest level and see what happens.