The last few seasons have been rough ones for Duane Kuiper, but it sounds like 2023 will be a return to normalcy.
According to an article from Bruce Jenkins in the San Francisco Chronicle, Kuiper will work 22 road games retaining his partnership with Mike Krukow, who will play the analyst’s role from a San Francisco studio during the team’s television broadcast.
Via Jenkins:
Starting with the very first telecasts this season, at Yankee Stadium and then Chicago against the White Sox (all day games, incidentally), Kuiper will work onsite while Krukow joins in from San Francisco. “I guarantee you, as long as we’ve known each other, it will be just like we’re sitting side by side,” Kuiper said, noting that his road schedule will also include games from Dodger Stadium, San Diego and Arizona. Otherwise, Dave Flemming will be the primary TV announcer on the road, working alongside Shawn Estes, Javier Lopez or (on rare occasions) Hunter Pence.
Aside from a few road games at the end of the season, neither Krukow nor Kuiper traveled last year, instead broadcasting games from a studio in San Francisco. Kruk’s ability to travel has been compromised by a debilitating leg condition that decreases his mobility and does not allow him to get on planes. Kuiper meanwhile dealt with a cancer diagnosis in 2021 that kept him away from broadcasting for long stretches of the season, and lost his wife Michelle unexpectedly last offseason.
Kuiper has continued to maintain a positive attitude and says he “feels great.” He also believes that being present for road games will greatly improve the telecast.
“It’s just no fun when you’re calling a certain play and you don’t actually know what happened,” Kuiper told Jenkins.
