Pitchers and catchers have reported. Play-by-play voices have, too.
Jack McMullen, a 2016 Oak Park and River Forest graduate, is down in Florida for Spring Training as he gears up for his second season as the play-by-play announcer for the Miami Marlins Radio Network.
“I get there Feb. 15 and I just hang out in Jupiter until opening day and then it’s all systems go,” McMullen said. “It’s a little weird to think back about everything that’s happened over the last year, but it’s been amazing and it went so quickly. But baseball is a unique beast where sometimes it feels like it is dragging over the course of it, and then all of a sudden you blink and you’re getting geared up for year two, when you feel like you’re still brand new to the whole thing and brand new to the role. So it’s a cool thing that it’s already been a year, but it’s a little weird.”
The back of a Jack McMullen baseball card would share that he made his playing debut with the Brewster Whitecaps in the Cape Cod League (2018), followed by a year with the Auburn Doubledays, an affiliate of the Washington Nationals, in short-season Class A (2019).
Cards generally include a bit of trivia, such as “Did you know” that McMullen graduated from Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2020?
His next stint was as a broadcasting and media assistant with the Fort Wayne TinCaps, a Class A affiliate of the San Diego Padres.
He took his talents to the thriving podcasting world in 2021 and continues to serve as the director of podcasting for Just Baseball Media.
“I host the Just Baseball Show and co-host the Call Up, which is our prospect show,” McMullen said. “And we are really growing in terms of just being a multimedia beast, I think, in baseball where you’ve got a social media presence, and you’ve got an editorial presence and a podcast network. We want to make sure that every single base is covered when it comes to baseball coverage. It’s been really fun. It’s been great to stay as involved as I have this year with the Fish.”
He spent a few years at the highest level of Minor League baseball, calling games for the Triple A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Calling those Indianapolis Indians games for three years helped prepare him for his call up, so to speak, to the Big Leagues when he was hired by the Marlins.
Baseball players, teams and fans will often talk about getting hot at the right time, and few were swinging it as well as McMullen was over the holidays in 2024 and early 2025.
His hot streak began in December 2024 when he got engaged. He rang in the New Year when he was hired by the Marlins Radio Network. A month later he was introduced as the new voice of Marlins radio. He’s still a couple years from turning 30.
“I’m in the throes of wedding planning right now,” he said. “So that is probably my most often used word now, wedding.”
He’s in love and in love with the game.
“Baseball has always been my favorite thing — it’s a game that sucks you in so young and never spits you out,” he said. “I had this love for baseball develop when I was so, so young. It’s one of those games that there’s something to be romantic with at all times. And it’s there every single night for months of comfort. I’m so lucky and grateful that I can be the person that can help deliver that little escape.”
Jack McMullen, right, a 2016 Oak Park and River Forest High School graduate, calls a 2025 Miami Marlins game against the New York Yankees as the play-by-play announcer for the Miami Marlins Radio Network. (Jack McMullen)
He helped the OPRF team escape some jams in the spring of 2016 during a 30-8 campaign that culminated with a trip to state where the Huskies placed third in the IHSA Class 4A tournament.
The back of this card would note a 3-0 record and 2.84 ERA as a high school senior, but would be remiss to not include mention of his relationship with pitching coach Tim Dennehy.
“I learned how to think pitching from Tim Dennehy,” McMullen said. “He taught mechanics, he instilled a curiosity of the game, a competitive fire to push. I was kind of a sponge around him.”
Dennehy also played at OPRF, graduating in 2005 and getting drafted by the New York Yankees in 2006. He returned to his alma mater in 2012 as he retired from playing and converted to coaching.
“I was actually giving lessons to Jack around that time and he’s had as much of an influence on me as a young coach because he is one of the greatest human beings ever,” Dennehy said. “He’s a sponge. He loved talking baseball, loved talking pitching. He kind of molded me as a coach to coach him and he wanted to be successful and I knew he would be.”
You’ve got to want it.
“I knew he would be successful with whatever he did just because his work ethic is relentless,” Dennehy said. “No one is harder on himself than he is. He was one of the best kids, best players I’ve ever coached. He’s on the Mt. Rushmore.”
Jack McMullen, right, a 2016 Oak Park and River Forest High School graduate, stands with producer and pregame host Stephen Strom, before a 2025 Miami Marlins game against the White Sox at Rate Field in Chicago. McMullen is starting his for his second season as the play-by-play announcer for the Miami Marlins Radio Network. (Jack McMullen)
It’s been 10 years since McMullen graduated from OPRF. His 10-year reunion is scheduled for June 6, but Florida is hosting the Tampa Bay Rays.
The OPRF ’26 class will get its diplomas on May 31 with students going in all sorts of directions with different ambitions and dreams. McMullen was just there a decade ago.
“I think running your own race is incredibly important, and not doing anything halfway,” McMullen advised. “Some things have a very low conversion rate of achieving. If you want to achieve the dream in something competitive, you can’t leave any stone unturned. Wake up each day, I’ve got to do something. If I’m leaving meat on the bone, I’m not doing right by myself. Pursuing what you love is important, too. I know how rare it is to do what I want to do and I’m so grateful to do it.”
Now he’s building off the experiences of his rookie year for his sophomore season.
“I feel like I learned so much about me as an on-air person last year as a play-by-play announcer and where I go for certain moments, and when to go to Level 10 and all of that,” he said. “And so I feel like I’m more fine-tuned now than I was last year, and I feel less like I’m flying by the seat of my pants, so I think I’m really excited for a full year of prepared baseball and knowing what to expect when it comes to on-air stuff.”
McMullen’s playing by his own 80/20 rule.
“I kind of made myself like an arbitrary rule and I call it the 80/20 rule, where 80% of my mind, as it pertains to work, is ‘OK, how can I get better? How can I improve X? How can I improve Y,” he said. “And 20% is like, you know what? You’re doing all right, man. So give yourself a 20% cushion and 80% is continuing to grow in who you are as a worker and as a professional.”
And never forget to have fun. Like Harry Caray said so often, “You can’t beat fun at the old ballpark,” and McMullen has a chance to visit all of them.
“What’s fun is, as a young fan, you know, everybody has that goal of visiting 30 ballparks,” McMullen said. “And with the way the schedule is set up now, I’ll be able to officially check that off this year which is going to be great. So I haven’t been to Minneapolis, haven’t been to Kansas City and then haven’t been to Houston. I think those are the last three on my list, but we go to all three of those this year, so I’m really excited for that. First time calling a game at Yankee Stadium this year is gonna be damn cool. Those are the good trips I’m looking forward to as a baseball fan to check off the bucket list.”
Local fans can hear McMullen call the action on the Marlins Radio Network when the White Sox visit Miami for a three-game series March 30-31 and April 1 as well as when the Cubs visit Sept. 4-6. McMullen also will visit Wrigley Field on Sept. 22-24 when the Marlins come to Chicago for the Cubs’ final home series of the year.
C.R. Walker is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.