Melchior lands gig with MLB farm team

Home Sports Melchior lands gig with MLB farm team

For a sports fan, it doesn’t get much better than enjoying America’s pastime — and getting paid to do so.

Hillsdale junior Matt Melchior is about to spend a whole summer doing exactly that. Melchior has been named the broadcasting director for the High Desert Mavericks, the Seattle Mariners’ Class A advanced affiliate, located in sunny Adelanto, Calif., which is a 90-minute drive northeast of Los Angeles. Melchior will be busy working for the Mavericks.

“I’ll be simulcasting all of their games, for both television and radio, and then I’ll also be hiring a PA announcer,” Melchior said. “I’ll deal with all the media relations, press releases, all of that.”

Over spring break, Melchior travelled down to Peoria, Ariz. to interview with Chris Gwynn, the director of player development for the Mariners, along with members of the Mavericks’ staff, including manager Eddie Menchaca, pitching coach Andrew Lorraine, and hitting coach Max Venable. Melchior also had the privilege of interviewing with current Seattle Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon.

Melchior then headed to Adelanto to prepare scripts and handle human resources in preparation for opening day on April 3. Melchior, a week after returning to Hillsdale at the conclusion of spring break, headed west again this past Monday, this time for the remainder of the summer.

Melchior took 19 credits this semester, a large workload for any student, but was still able to complete all his coursework before leaving for Adelanto.

“My teachers have been very flexible and very willing to work with me, so I’ve been completing all my course work ahead of time,” Melchior said. “I’ll have it all done and all my requirements done on the home front before I take this job.”

Melchior will be just as busy, if not more so, after the season begins.

“[The Mavericks] have 72 home games, and between travelling and home games, we have five off days,” Melchior said.

For a season that lasts from the beginning of April to the beginning of September, Melchior will average just one day off a month. After an incredibly busy summer, Melchior will return to Hillsdale.

“I’ll miss the first two weeks of school, and then I’ll come back and graduate in the fall,” Melchior said.

Melchior will be missed by many at Hillsdale during his absence, including Brad Monastiere, Hillsdale’s Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations and Event Management.

“Matt came to me actually very early his freshman year two years ago and expressed interest in working in some capacity in the department, but particularly looking at an announcing scenario,” Monastiere said. “He’s someone who has a lot of initiative, who has a lot of drive, has a lot of ambition, but also has a lot of talent, and this opportunity he’s got in California is the end result of the combination of all those things coming together.”

On campus, Melchior is involved with PA announcing and football game management in addition to broadcasting baseball and softball games, so Monastiere will have to try and make do without him.

“We’ll just have to get by with what we have, but his contributions during the time he was here were extremely valuable,” Monastiere said. “The nice thing is that he’ll be back next fall after he’s done with the team out there so we’ll put him to work again.”

The next five months will be a marathon for Melchior, but one he will undoubtedly enjoy. Becoming the High Desert Mavericks’ broadcast director is one of the first big steps that Melchior will take towards fulfilling his dream of becoming a broadcaster for a Major League Baseball team.