The Washington Nationals have a new play-by-play voice.
As pitchers and catchers get ready to report to West Palm Beach for spring training — which the Washington Post won’t be there to cover — the Nationals were in need of a play-by-play man for its broadcasts, which appear to be leaving MASN for an MLB-controlled local broadcast. And amidst an organizational reshuffle that saw the departures of Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez, the Nats were also forced to replace Bob Carpenter.
The 73-year-old said “See you later” to the team’s broadcast booth after a two-decade stint at the end of the 2025 season. That opened the door for Dan Kolko, who will succeed Carpenter, according to the Washington Post’s Chelsea Janes.
News: Dan Kolko will succeed Bob Carpenter doing play-by-play on Nationals broadcasts this year, according to multiple people familiar with the decision. Kolko filled in regularly for Carpenter last year and has been a part of Nats coverage in various roles since 2012.
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) January 27, 2026
As Janes noted, Kolko regularly filled in for Carpenter during the 2025 season and had been steadily building toward this. He’s been part of Nationals coverage in various roles for the last 14 years, even after being fired by MASN ahead of the 2021 season. The Nationals were so displeased with that decision to oust Kolko that the organization hired him to continue in his role as a sideline reporter, host, and eventual fill-in play-by-play.
When WaPo‘s Andrew Golden reported that the Nationals were planning to hire Alexa Datt as the team’s next sideline reporter, this felt like the natural ascension for Kolko, even if some of Awful Announcing’s readers — who ranked the Nats’ booth at No. 26 in the 2025 local announcer rankings — seemed skeptical about his succeeding Carpenter.
Several readers also noted they’ll miss him, and lines on likely replacement Kolko included “This booth is going to fall off a cliff when Bob retires,” “D when Carpenter is gone: (on a C grade), “an immediate mute button,” and “needs to step it up” (albeit with some praise for his work in a reporting/hosting role).
Datt was scheduled to take over the combined host-reporter role for most road telecasts for the St. Louis Cardinals after it was reported that Jim Hayes’ role was being reduced, but FanDuel Sports Network will likely need to rethink that, now that she’ll join Kolko and likely Kevin Frandsen in the nation’s capital.