ESPN Announcer Karl Ravech Returns to Call MLB Game Days After Being Laid Off

Karl Ravech returned to call a Thursday night Major League Baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals, despite being laid off by ESPN earlier this month. Ravech was part of the wave of employees laid off by ESPN on July 21. However, The Athletic reports that Ravech has been given the opportunity to call a number of remaining MLB games throughout the rest of the summer. In addition to the Braves-Nationals game he called Thursday night, the longtime announcer is already on deck to call a game between the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners game on Aug. 12 as well. He will also contribute to some of the Little League World Series commentary, having previously served as the lead voice for the baseball competition. Ravech had been a part of ESPN for 33 years before he was laid off. Once Ravech’s remaining baseball obligations have been fulfilled, The Athletic reports that ESPN does not expect to bring him back for any future games. Ravech reportedly learned of his firing when a reporter called to ask him about it, with an ESPN executive subsequently reaching out to him to confirm his termination. Ravech is not the only on-air ESPN personality who was hit by the company’s sweeping layoffs this month. NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero, injury expert Stephanie Bell and former NFL stars-turned-analysts Cam Newton, Bart Scott and Ryan Clark were also among those let go by ESPN. Ravech was not the only ESPN employee who learned about his termination in unorthodox fashion, either. Clark was in the midst of shooting an episode of “NFL Live” when he was informed that he had been fired. The NFL analyst was then missing from the broadcast when it returned from a commercial break. ESPN had reportedly planned to notify all terminated employees through the company’s standard notification process, but Clark’s notice was accelerated after ESPN was alerted to an incoming report on his departure. While ESPN did not tell Clark he could not finish that day’s “NFL Live” broadcast, the two mutually decided he would not return after the show returned from its commercial break. “Before the madness of yesterday, I woke up, got in my Tundra, drove to Planet Fitness, and got to work,” Clark wrote on Instagram after his firing. “The rest of the day was eventful, but the journey continues. My peace is with God, and my humility comes from within. I’ll continue to build myself so the world can never strip me of what’s real.” ESPN’s July layoffs were the second wave of cuts made in the wake of the company’s acquisition of the NFL Network. ESPN previously laid off another number of employees in April.