For the most part, Atlanta Braves fans rejoiced when it was revealed that Chip Caray was leaving the Braves' broadcast booth and was being replaced by Brandon Gaudin. While most of the excitement was over Atlanta finally moving on from Caray whose act had long grown tired, Gaudin was largely positively received as the Braves' choice for his previous national level play-by-play work (especially in football) and his time calling Georgia Tech games.
Overall, the new booth has seemed to work well. Gaudin is well-prepared for broadcasts and relative newcomer CJ Nitkowski seems to have a good understanding of the game and passes that knowledge along in a way that is digestible for audiences. Joe Simpson was insufferable when on TV with Caray, but has done well transitioning to radio while Jeff Francoeur has mostly taken this season off to spend time with family and blast Ronald Acuña Jr.
However, despite the significant jump up in quality, the Braves broadcast didn't get much in the way of love in Awful Announcing's 2025 MLB broadcaster ranking poll. While Atlanta's broadcast did rank in the top half, being ranked 13th seems to be a bit harsh compared to some of the broadcasts ahead of them.
Braves broadcast barely ranks in the top half of latest MLB broadcast rankings
The Braves broadcast booth's ranking is down one from last year, but it is worth noting that Atlanta is in the middle of a terrible season and these rankings are based on online poll results. It is probably fair to say that there were less Braves fans voting this year as some have checked out altogether.
That said, there are some puzzling results here. No one should be complaining about the Padres booth led by Don Orsillo in the top spot as they are top notch. However, you will be hard-pressed to convince us that you will find anyone outside of that sad group of Mets fans in New York City that wants to listen to Keith Hernandez for hours and they came in at #2.
Again, there were some understandable choices ahead of Gaudin and Co. like the Giants, Blue Jays, and Cubs who all have highly regarded broadcast teams. However, the Orioles broadcast booth is really young and was previously under the thumb of the team leading to homerism and the Angels' booth is fine, if uninspiring.
Gaudin can at take solace that he was named Georgia Sportscaster of the Year at the very least. However, one hopes that Braves fans show up in the voting more next year to give Atlanta's much improved booth some love.