![\"Jack](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/PPN-L-OAK-PARK-MARLINS-RADIO-0226-02.jpg\")
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)<\/p>\nPitchers and catchers have reported. Play-by-play voices have, too.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get there Feb. 15 and I just hang out in Jupiter until opening day and then it\u2019s all systems go,\u201d McMullen said. \u201cIt\u2019s a little weird to think back about everything that\u2019s happened over the last year, but it\u2019s 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\u2019re getting geared up for year two, when you feel like you\u2019re still brand new to the whole thing and brand new to the role. So it\u2019s a cool thing that it\u2019s already been a year, but it\u2019s a little weird.\u201d<\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n
Cards generally include a bit of trivia, such as \u201cDid you know\u201d that McMullen graduated from Syracuse\u2019s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2020?<\/p>\n
His next stint was as a broadcasting and media assistant with the Fort Wayne TinCaps, a Class A affiliate of the San Diego Padres.<\/p>\n
He took his talents to the thriving podcasting world in 2021 and continues to serve as the director of podcasting for Just Baseball Media.<\/p>\n
\u201cI host the Just Baseball Show and co-host the Call Up, which is our prospect show,\u201d McMullen said. \u201cAnd we are really growing in terms of just being a multimedia beast, I think, in baseball where you\u2019ve got a social media presence, and you\u2019ve 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\u2019s been really fun. It\u2019s been great to stay as involved as I have this year with the Fish.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s still a couple years from turning 30.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in the throes of wedding planning right now,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that is probably my most often used word now, wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s in love and in love with the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cBaseball has always been my favorite thing \u2014 it\u2019s a game that sucks you in so young and never spits you out,\u201d he said. \u201cI had this love for baseball develop when I was so, so young. It\u2019s one of those games that there\u2019s something to be romantic with at all times. And it\u2019s there every single night for months of comfort. I\u2019m so lucky and grateful that I can be the person that can help deliver that little escape.\u201d<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The back of this card would note a 3-0 record and 2.84 ERA as a high school senior,\u00a0\u00a0but would be remiss to not include mention of his relationship with pitching coach Tim Dennehy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned how to think pitching from Tim Dennehy,\u201d McMullen said. \u201cHe taught mechanics, he instilled a curiosity of the game, a competitive fire to push. I was kind of a sponge around him.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was actually giving lessons to Jack around that time and he\u2019s had as much of an influence on me as a young coach because he is one of the greatest human beings ever,\u201d Dennehy said. \u201cHe\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve got to want it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew he would be successful with whatever he did just because his work ethic is relentless,\u201d Dennehy said. \u201cNo one is harder on himself than he is. He was one of the best kids, best players I\u2019ve ever coached. He\u2019s on the Mt. Rushmore.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Jack](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/PPN-L-OAK-PARK-MARLINS-RADIO-0226-01.jpg\")
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)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
The OPRF \u201926 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think running your own race is incredibly important, and not doing anything halfway,\u201d McMullen advised. \u201cSome things have a very low conversion rate of achieving. If you want to achieve the dream in something competitive, you can\u2019t leave any stone unturned. Wake up each day, I\u2019ve got to do something. If I\u2019m leaving meat on the bone, I\u2019m 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\u2019m so grateful to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now he\u2019s building off the experiences of his rookie year for his sophomore season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so I feel like I\u2019m more fine-tuned now than I was last year, and I feel less like I\u2019m flying by the seat of my pants, so I think I\u2019m really excited for a full year of prepared baseball and knowing what to expect when it comes to on-air stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
McMullen\u2019s playing by his own 80\/20 rule.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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 \u2018OK, how can I get better? How can I improve X? How can I improve Y,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd 20% is like, you know what? You\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
And never forget to have fun. Like Harry Caray said so often, \u201cYou can\u2019t beat fun at the old ballpark,\u201d and McMullen has a chance to visit all of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s fun is, as a young fan, you know, everybody has that goal of visiting 30 ballparks,\u201d McMullen said. \u201cAnd with the way the schedule is set up now, I\u2019ll be able to officially check that off this year which is going to be great. So I haven\u2019t been to Minneapolis, haven\u2019t been to Kansas City and then haven\u2019t 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\u2019m 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\u2019m looking forward to as a baseball fan to check off the bucket list.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019 final home series of the year.<\/p>\n
C.R. Walker is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pitchers and catchers have reported. Play-by-play voices have, too. Jack McMullen, a 2016 Oak Park and River Forest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2395],"tags":[5,76953,1816,778,58,4171,4,76952,43876,151],"class_list":["post-590070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami-marlins","tag-baseball","tag-jack-mcmullen","tag-marlins","tag-miami","tag-miami-marlins","tag-miamimarlins","tag-mlb","tag-oak-park-and-river-forest-high-school","tag-radio-broadcasting","tag-spring-training"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116125495508228294","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}