ESPN’s Karl Ravech never stops moving during baseball season

The Needham native, who has been with the network since May 1993, is in his third season as the play-by-play voice on “Sunday Night Baseball” after a decades-long run as a studio anchor, as well as baseball play-by-play on some weeknight broadcasts.

He has been part of ESPN’s Little League World Series coverage since 2006, and in ’11 began calling the championship games of the LLWS, as well as play-by-play on the network’s college baseball broadcasts. He’s also led Home Run Derby coverage since 2017.

“This time of year it gets especially hectic,” said Ravech. “Next week, I have the MLB Draft on Sunday night, the Derby on Monday, and call the MLB All-Star Game on ESPN Radio on Tuesday.

“It’s a dream job. It’s incredible. It’s crazy. I couldn’t be happier.”

Ravech’s baseball duties have expanded even as ESPN has streamlined — to put it kindly — its MLB coverage in recent years.

As fulfilling as his career is, he does acknowledge that he misses the days when “Baseball Tonight,” which he hosted, aired twice nightly as one of ESPN’s flagship studio shows. Recently, Twitter/X user @poerbler posted, “Remember when Baseball Tonight aired every single night and it was just an hour of highlights and we were a proper society.” Ravech replied, “Like it was yesterday.”

“I’ll be honest,” said Ravech, “that tweet was obviously a reaction to the program — which I know they loved, and I understand that with the people that were on it, with Peter (Gammons) and Harold (Reynolds) and (John Kruk) and (Bobby) Valentineand there was no other place to get something like that.

“But it felt almost as much about the difference in the temperature of the country and the world back then that people were also longing for, as opposed to the climate we all live in today and the animosity that’s everywhere.

“It was about both things. I’m grateful people remember it fondly, and I’m saddened by it, too, that none of it exists in that way anymore.”

Ravech had another compelling X posting this past week, this one with regard to current baseball matters and the Red Sox. He listed several teams that he believes ought to add to their rosters before the July 30 trade deadline, noting, “This time of year it always comes down to the deals that are done or not done.”

The Red Sox, who entered Friday 18-10 since the start of June, were among the teams Ravech cited.

“There are teams that have worked so hard to get to this position, and they need some help,” Ravech said. “And I know that there are some in the Red Sox organization who are wondering, ‘When does that happen?’

“I know they assume it’s going to happen. I’m not sure that it is. I don’t know what Craig (Breslowthe Red Sox’ chief baseball officer) is going to do. I don’t know what the organization’s motivations are when it comes to being competitive and taking a run at it. We will find out over the next month.

“Look, they could lose 7 of 10 and the whole thing goes for naught, but the way they play I think eliminates most of those opportunities for the long losing streak,” he said, noting that he called the Red Sox’ June 16 win over the Yankees, when they stole nine bases and solidified their identity as a bold, athletic team.

“You don’t have a team dependent on one aspect. And that’s what the last month has shown to me, that they win in a variety of ways.”

Ravech said he believes this is the time that the Red Sox should trade from a depth of prospects, and it perplexes him when teams such as the Orioles — who have an abundance of emerging talent — hoard young players rather than dare to trade to enhance the major league roster.

“That’s always been my particular argument,” he said. “I wouldn’t go so far as to put it on a shirt that says, ‘Prospects are great, parades are better.’ I understand why you’d protect your best assets. But you owe it to the players in that clubhouse to get better. You don’t necessarily owe it to the guy you drafted who might be your sixth- or seventh-best prospect.”

Good call

Few aspects of the Red Sox’ comeback against the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series, en route to winning their first World Series in 86 years, have gone underexamined over the past 20 years.

One that has: the fact that a couple of crucial, close plays were correctly called in the Red Sox’ favor, which wasn’t always the case in previous playoff matchups with the Yankees.

Director Charlie Minn digs into the most famous one — Dave Roberts’s history-altering stolen base in Game 4 — in an upcoming film about the umpire who got it right, the controversial Joe West.

“Tales of Joe West” debuts on Amazon Prime and other major streamers July 12. It’s worth tracking down, to relive an unforgettable moment from the perspective of West, the person who made the call, or just to hear Roberts himself talk about it one more time.

Chad Finn can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @GlobeChadFinn.