While most national MLB broadcasts rely on national announcers, Roku uses the old tactic of having announcers from the two teams call the game together. For Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins, that meant Royals play-by-play man Ryan Lefebvre calling the game with Twins color analyst Justin Morneau. Following the game, Lefebvre was the target of some criticism.
Minnesota hit two home runs during the game. The first game in the third inning, when Ryan Fitzgerald hit the first home run of his career. The second came in the 11th inning, when Luke Keaschall hit a two-run walk-off homer. While Lefebvre was calling the game as a “neutral” announcer, both calls had the enthusiasm that might be expected on a Royals broadcast.
Ryan Fitzgerald’s first Major League hit is a two-run homer! pic.twitter.com/y8sLsn2A3u
— MLB (@MLB) August 10, 2025
Luke Keaschall #WALKOFF homer!
The @Twins win it in the 11th! pic.twitter.com/zEmFEWVk7C
— MLB (@MLB) August 10, 2025
The lack of enthusiasm was noticed.
What a bummer to not have Cory Provus on the mic for the Ryan Fitzgerald and Keaschall homers today. Two awful calls from the Royals PBP guy, who was theoretically neutral on the Roku broadcast today.pic.twitter.com/mGIGTPXGd9
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) August 10, 2025
I don’t like to criticize announcers but there was no effort at all by this Royals announcer to call this neutrally.bGrand Rapids ripped my heart out of my chest last year and I was still able to muster up some energy for the call. This guy should never be used again. https://t.co/VDNt5yaUbn
— Zach Halverson (@ZachHalverson) August 10, 2025
I don’t like to criticize announcers but there was no effort at all by this Royals announcer to call this neutrally.bGrand Rapids ripped my heart out of my chest last year and I was still able to muster up some energy for the call. This guy should never be used again. https://t.co/VDNt5yaUbn
— Zach Halverson (@ZachHalverson) August 10, 2025
That was a lackluster call from Ryan Lefebvre on Keaschall’s HR. Granted it was not a local call, but still.
— Brad Anderson (@BradA_Pbp) August 10, 2025
While the frustration is understandable, two points need to be made.
One, Vinnie Pasquantino hit a big two-run home run during Sunday’s game, giving the Royals a lead in the seventh inning. Lefebvre’s call of that big home run was not overly enthusiastic either.
Vinnie swings us ahead! pic.twitter.com/mHkaaOZjsX
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) August 10, 2025
Two, even during Kansas City broadcasts, Lefebvre’s calls are often very straightforward without a great deal of emotion behind them.
Yaz, please! pic.twitter.com/xFVZ0CzUrY
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) August 9, 2025
Ryan LeFebvre’s call of the walk off sac fly pic.twitter.com/wvqQgFAwHs
— Shaun Newkirk (@Shauncore) October 28, 2015
So, while Lefebvre’s calls of Sunday’s biggest moments might have been a little jarring for Roku viewers, particularly those cheering for the Twins, they were also more or less on par with the announcing style of the man delivering them.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source awfulannouncing.com ’
