John Kruk isn’t going anywhere — except perhaps for a mid-game snack or a beer during the inning. NBC Sports Philadelphia recently secured the Phillies analyst with a four-year extension, as highlighted in a feature in Philadelphia Magazine. This ensures fans can continue enjoying his unfiltered takes, dry humor, and his amusing disdain for anything too serious.
Since joining the team in 2017, Kruk has fit seamlessly alongside Tom McCarthy, with a rotating cast that includes Mike Schmidt, Ben Davis, and Ruben Amaro Jr. Last year, this group achieved a ranking of No. 7 in Awful Announcing’s annual local broadcast rankings, showcasing their chemistry and entertainment appeal. Though Phillies fans might begrudge the comparison to Keith Hernandez — known for his critical views on their fundamentals — there’s a shared unpredictability in what both announcers might say next.
When the 64-year-old Kruk isn’t praising the joys of Montreal beer or joking about forming the sexiest broadcast team ever with Cole Hamels, he’s amusingly scaring kids near the booth, predicting walk-offs two innings in advance, and even willing wild pitches into existence. Despite facing some health challenges recently, Kruk remains unconcerned with what lies ahead. He prefers to eschew the structure of production sheets, allowing the game to unfold naturally without being tethered to pre-planned rundowns.
“Everyone says, ‘Who did you pattern your style after?’ I say, ‘I didn’t pattern nothing, I just talk,’” he shared with Jake Kring-Schreifels of Philly Mag. “You know, it’s just baseball. My God, I’ve been doing it my whole life. It ain’t like I’m curing cancer or anything.” His philosophy is straightforward: stay present, let the game tell its own story, and resist overthinking it. This authenticity is what endears him to fans; he simply lets the game’s action come to him.
