Mets Booth: Individual strengths of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling

Ron Darling

Ron Darling has written several books that closely examine the art of pitching, and his announcing style reflects this minute attention to detail. While Cohen handles the majority of play-by-play calls and Hernandez comments on hitting and fielding moments throughout the game, Darling generally focuses on what he knows best.

Darling is clearly a smart baseball man, but one of his main strengths as an announcer is how he communicates this intellect in an approachable way to viewers. He often will take a baseball and demonstrate various pitching grips to the SNY camera, share his perspective on why one pitcher’s windup is more efficient than another’s, and so on.

In this way, though he doesn’t say it as explicitly as Hernandez, Darling also strives to make every Mets broadcast a teachable moment for aspiring baseball players watching at home. He recognizes the importance of making the game accessible to younger audiences, and strikes a perfect balance between providing insightful pitching commentary and not boring his audience by getting too technical.

Though Darling has his moments of humor, he tends to leave most of those “one-liners”  to Hernandez, who frequently makes both Cohen and Darling dissolve into giggles with his hilarious quips. Instead, I appreciate how Darling provides a level-headed “voice of reason” no matter what is going on in the game.

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Together, Cohen, Hernandez, and Darling have crafted one of the most cherished TV booths in all of baseball. Mets fans can only hope that they call many more unforgettable Mets moments in the years to come.