Wichita Wind Surge announcer called up to big leagues in short relief | Opinion
It was the opportunity of a lifetime that Wind Surge play-by-play announcer Tim Grubbs has dreamed about for decades.
After 30 years doing play-by-play for more than 4,000 minor league baseball games, Grubbs made it to the big leagues.
It was a short stay — six games in six days — as the radio voice of Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins.
“All these years of hard work, you know, even if it is just for six days, it’s a dream come true,” he said.
I chatted with Grubbs as he was settling back into the friendly confines of Wichita’s Equity Bank Park, just before calling the game between the Wind Surge and their Texas League rivals, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (formerly the Wichita Wranglers, until they moved in 2007, for which I still haven’t forgiven them).
Grubbs regularly provides recorded interviews with Wind Surge players for Twins pregame shows, rotating that responsibility with announcers from their other minor league teams.
So it was no surprise when Twins director of broadcasting Andrew Halverson called and asked if he’d mind doing an extra interview.
“I said, yeah, that’s fine, whatever you need,” Grubbs said. “And he goes, how about you interview (Twins manager) Rocco Baldelli in Cleveland?
“I said, Well, that’s going to be a little bit of a problem. I’m in Wichita, and Rocco’s not here, so I don’t know how I’m going to be in Cleveland to do an interview. “
Then Halverson sprang the surprise.
“He said, ‘Well, Kris Atteberry, (the Twins’ regular radio announcer), is going to take a few days off. He’s going on a family vacation, and we would love for you to fill in and do the pregame interview with Rocco, and do play by play.’
“I said, are you kidding me?” Grubbs said. “It took about 30 seconds, but it just really hit me that I was going to go to the big leagues, and I couldn’t wait to tell my mom and dad, couldn’t wait to tell my brother, couldn’t wait to tell my sister, couldn’t wait to tell my wife.”
While this hasn’t been the Twins’ year, all of Grubbs’ games were meaningful. He called three in Detroit, which leads the American League Central Division, and three in Cleveland, where the Guardians are in the hunt for a wild-card playoff berth.
“You can feel the energy and the excitement in those ballparks,” he said. “When Jose Ramirez would come up to bat for Cleveland, and you know he’s a future Hall of Famer, and it was Jose Ramirez Jersey giveaway (night), and he hit the go-ahead home run. And the place just went nuts . . . Even though that was against us, it still was, you know, it was electrifying.”
He admits he made a couple of errors. He tripped on calling the Cleveland Guardians the Indians, their name until 2021, but he quickly caught himself and it came out kind of like “Indi-Guardians.”
And in the final minutes of his final post-game show, after congratulating former Wind Surge player Brooks Lee on hitting a home run, he said, “The Wind Surge hit three home runs today in their win in Detroit.” His color man, former Twins pitcher Glen Perkins, just laughed.
Moving from the Wind Surge to the Twins broadcast booth was kind of like a family reunion, because about half the players on the roster had passed through Wichita as up-and-coming prospects.
The Twins were active at MLB’s trade deadline July 31, and called up several players from their farm system about the same time Grubbs moved into the booth for his Aug. 1 debut.
“Travis Adams pitched for the Wind Surge in 2023 and 2024, I called his first Major League start,” Grubbs said. “Kody Funderburk (Wind Surge 2021-2023) got a win.
“Luke Keaschall, he was with the Wind Surge last year, I called his first Major League home run. Oh, and I called Austin Martin’s first Major League pinch-hit home run.
“Pierson Ohl (Wind Surge in 2023-2025), got called up to the big leagues last week, so I got to call his first Major League start,” Grubbs said. “And Pierson obviously didn’t know I was going up. He sees me standing there waiting to get the interview with Rocco, and he goes: ‘Grubby! Just a few weeks ago, me and you were in the Texas League, riding the buses. And look at us. We’re in the big leagues.’ It was really cool.”
Speaking of buses, Grubbs and the Wind Surge will board one Tuesday for a four-hour ride to Springfield, Mo., bring your own snacks.
When the Twins traveled during Grubbs’ six days, it was by charter jet, with a full menu, and they stayed at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
He said he could get used to that.
Wind Surge General Manager Matt Hamilton said he listened to Grubbs’ games with the Twins, and he did the organization proud.
“Everybody always looks and says, big league broadcasters are just next level, which they are wholeheartedly,” he said. “But we feel lucky because we’ve got a big league quality guy on a night-in and night-out basis. I would hate to (lose him), but at the same time somebody who’s been doing something for so long deserves every opportunity that comes their way.”
Maybe the opportunity will come again, maybe it won’t.
But for six whirlwind days in August of 2025, Tim Grubbs was big league, and no one can ever take that away.
This story was originally published August 8, 2025 at 8:09 AM.
