Courtesy Cincinnati Enquirer

(August 16, 2010) In the TV booth above home plate - arguably the best seat in Great American Ball Park - Reds TV analyst Chris Welsh is looking at his laptop instead of watching the game.

What's up with that?

Welsh, in his 18th season, found an online database listing Reds rookie Mike Leake second among National League pitchers getting batters to hit into double plays.

He mentions this to stats coordinator Mark Wagner, who relays the info to producer Brian Hunterman in the Fox Sports Ohio truck under the left field bleachers. Soon viewers see the list assembled by a graphics staffer.

"Before the game, I like to look at pitchers' tendencies," says Welsh, a 1973 St. Xavier High School graduate and former Reds pitcher. "The double play stat separates the ground ball pitchers from the fly ball pitchers."

Viewers who see only Welsh, Jim Day and Thom Brennaman or Paul Keels don't realize that FSO needs 25 employees to televise one game - the same number of Reds players in uniform.

"It's definitely a team effort," says Tom Farmer, FSO vice president for programming and production.

Most of the workers are crammed into the narrow TV truck. Hunterman sits in front of a wall of digital video monitors and calls the shots viewers see from 15 cameras.

For the first time, Reds fans can watch all 145 FSO games this year in high-definition, plus the new super-slow-motion replays and "Fox Trax" pitch locator. Fox's timing for the innovations couldn't have been better, with the Reds in their first pennant race since 1999.

"This town is very, very hungry for a championship, and they love their Reds," says Farmer, who is based in Cleveland.

Reds ratings are up 63 percent from last year, and 128 percent over last July. TV ratings here are fourth best in Major League Baseball, behind St. Louis, Philadelphia and Minnesota.

Tim Luck of Deer Park likes watching the pitch locations and speed displayed by "Fox Trax" graphics.

"You can see if a pitch is low or high. They should use it every pitch," says Luck, 46.

"Fox Trax" uses MLB's computerized pitch tracking system that umpires can review after games, or anyone can see at MLB.com's "Gameday."

Keels, a veteran broadcaster in his first Reds TV season, enjoys the "X-Mo" replays at 3,000 frames per second, 100 times slower than usual video.

"It show you things that you'd never be able to see. You can actually see that a bat really bends without breaking," says Keels, a Silverton native who has called games for the Detroit Pistons, Cincinnati Bengals and University of Cincinnati.

In 1998, Keels left WLW-AM to do Ohio State University games. He was added to the Reds' TV team last winter when Thom Brennaman replaced retired lead announcer George Grande.

"Doing Reds games was something that I never thought would be available to me," says the 1975 Moeller High School graduate. "I'm having a blast."

The biggest Reds TV fan could be owner Bob Castellini. He "watches every away game. He's always asking how they can help us," Farmer says.

The Reds "consider the partnership with FSO to be one of our greatest assets," says Karen Forgus, Reds senior vice president.

"Having 145 of our regular season games on TV is critical to keeping fans connected on a daily basis," she says.

With the Reds in playoff contention, Farmer is talking to the team about doing more programming or games. Once the playoffs start, Fox Broadcasting owns all TV rights.

"If there is a decisive game, we want to carry it," Farmer says.

"We're not going to let viewers not see that game. And I don't think Mr. Castellini will let that happen either."

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