Padres officially announce hiring of Don Orsillo

Orsillo, 46, has spent almost his entire career in the Red Sox organization.

Former Red Sox play-by-play man Don Orsillo will be joining the group on a limited basis next year before taking over full-time in 2017.

“We are excited to add Don to our broadcast lineup”, Padres president and CEO Mike Dee said in a release.

The outgoing Red Sox TV play-caller has been hired by the San Diego Padres to be their TV voice. “Don has established himself as one of the premier play-by-play men in the game”. When news broke on August 25 that Orsillo would be replaced on by Dave O’Brien – now a play-by-play voice on WEEI’s Red Sox radio broadcast team – next season, fan backlash regarding the decision was instant and overwhelming, with more than 62,000 people signing a Change.org petition trying to convince NESN and the Red Sox to retain the popular and affable broadcaster.

Orsillo will be working a limited amount of television games for the Padres next season, as longtime announcer Dick Enberg will be announcing between 60 to 100 games in his final year as commentator. Orsillo was reportedly told about the decision weeks before it became public, with the network never intending on making an announcement until after the season ended.

The Padres met with Orsillo while the Sox were playing in Baltimore earlier this month, and made an aggressive offer that could not be matched by other interested parties such as the Dodgers and even ESPN.

The Padres aggressively courted Orsillo last month, with Dee and Padres executive chairman Ron Fowler flying to the East Coast to meet with Orsillo.

Bob Scanlan, who is finishing his fourth season as color analyst for the radio team, is not being brought back. With him and Mark Grant holding down the TV broadcasts after 2016, Padres fans should have no issue getting used to hearing a great baseball broadcaster in Orsillo. Ted Leitner will return to the radio booth for his 37th season and Eduardo Ortega will return for his 30th season as the team’s primary Spanish language broadcaster.