John Kruk To Join MLB Phillies TV Team

John Kruk

John Kruk, the former Phillies player who parlayed an affable personality into a successful television career, will return to the Phillies in 2017 as a broadcaster.

Acccording to philly.com, Kruk will be one of the team’s five broadcasters, who are employees of Comcast SportsNet, a network that the Phillies own 25 percent of under their new television rights agreement.

A source with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed Kruk’s hiring, which was first reported by CSNPhilly.com, website of the network that carries the team’s games.

Kruk spent 12 years at ESPN before leaving in October. He was both a color commentator and studio analyst at ESPN. The two parties agreed to part ways, an ESPN spokesman said. Kruk, who will turn 55 in February, spent the 2003 season on the Phillies broadcasts. He will join Tom McCarthy, Mike Schmidt, Ben Davis, and Greg Murphy in the booth. Kruk replaces Matt Stairs, who was hired in October as the team’s hitting coach.