Myrtle Beach Pelicans’ Barnett honored as Carolina League’s top broadcaster in 2015

When Nathan Barnett joined the Myrtle Beach Pelicans last year to be the play-by-play broadcaster, he said he would’ve been surprised if Brian Boesch – the voice of the Winston-Salem Dash – didn’t win the Carolina League Broadcaster of the Year award.

Boesch indeed won last year but Barnett took the honor this year, the league announced Friday. Barnett said he’s honored to have been passed the torch from Boesch.

“Man, to be honest, it’s hard to really explain it. There are a lot of really good broadcasters in this league and I honestly could’ve seen a lot of us winning it,” Barnett said. “To be the one [to win], I was kind of shocked. But to have their respect and admiration enough to vote me as Broadcaster of the Year is really what it’s all about. I mean, we could’ve not released the news and not told anybody and it still would’ve been just as gratifying for me.”

Boesch was in charge of collecting the votes for this year’s award and when the Dash were in Myrtle Beach earlier this week, he informed Barnett of the results.

“I was honestly speechless,” Barnett said.

Barnett, 26, is in his second season as the media relations manager and broadcaster for the Pelicans after spending the 2013 season as the broadcast and media relations assistant for the Frisco (Texas) RoughRiders, the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers.

Prior to his time in Minor League Baseball, Barnett was the broadcaster for the Palm Springs (Calif.) POWER and the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters within summer collegiate baseball and the Ontario Reign, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings. He has also served as a fill-in play-by-play broadcaster with Learfield Sports, calling games for the SMU women’s basketball team. While an undergraduate at Pomona College in California, Barnett helped establish the Claremont Colleges’ broadcasting program.

Barnett said his best gig has been with the Pelicans, though, and he believes he has one of the best jobs in all of minor league baseball.

“This place is amazing and it’s my first job as the lead guy somewhere. But I’m fully in belief I have one of the 10 to 15 best jobs in minor league baseball as a broadcaster, and that includes the Double-A and Triple-A ranks, too,” Barnett said. “There are so few jobs that I would leave for; this place is awesome. The front office, the leadership from [president and general manager] Andy Milovich and the buy-in from Chuck Greenberg and his ownership group is tremendous and this club really wants to be first-class and that’s what I’m about. We really take pride in what we do here and I’m extremely proud to be a part of that as a group.”

Barnett becomes the fourth different broadcaster to earn the honor. Former Wilmington Blue Rocks voice John Sadak was the inaugural winner in 2012. Sadak is now the lead voice of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) RailRiders, the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees.

Darren Headrick – who is now alongside Sadak in the RailRiders’ booth – won the award in 2013 while with the Carolina Mudcats and Boesch, who is in the midst of his fourth season with the Winston-Salem, was recognized last year.

“Joining the list of the great broadcasters who have won this award in the past few years is an amazing honor,” Barnett said. “I’m extremely grateful.”

Overall, Barnett said he’s just happy to be part of a group that strives to do its best every single day.

“Our staff is full of award-worthy people,” he said. “There’s a Broadcaster of the Year award, but if there was a Food and Beverage Director of the Year award, our own Brad Leininger would win it. If there was a Marketing Director of the Year award, Kristin [Call] would win it and if there was a Video Production Manager award, Kyle [Guertin] would win it. The list goes on and on; this is a really special club to be a part of.”

Barnett and the rest of the Pelicans staff drew high praise from Milovich as well.

“Nathan has done an incredible job in all aspects,” Milovich said. “In addition to having an outstanding command of the broadcast, he’s reinvented our media relations approach by embracing the Chicago Cubs, Cubs’ affiliates, and both traditional and non-traditional media. The Pelicans media relations, public relations, and marketing efforts were synchronized in a greater fashion than I’ve seen in 25-plus years in the industry.”

This story was originally published August 28, 2015 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach Pelicans’ Barnett honored as Carolina League’s top broadcaster in 2015."