Everyone knows minor league baseball players dream of getting called up to the big leagues. But it isn’t just the sluggers and starting pitchers waiting for the call — the ambition found in a Triple-A ballpark is even instilled in the play-by-play announcer high above them in the press box. 

Up on the 4th floor of Albuquerque’s Isotopes Park ahead of a game against the Reno Aces, Josh Suchon is in the broadcast booth he’s worked out of for over a decade.He turns his attention to a framed list hanging on the wall. 

“This was me trying to get a job right out of college,” he said.  “I literally called every single team in minor league baseball. Every single team I called, and I said ‘Hi, my name is Josh, I’m a play-by-play announcer and I’m calling to see if you have an opening for this season. No? OK, thank you.’”

It’s all there on the list: nearly 200 teams, with varying degrees of failure. In one case, Suchon said he drove ten hours round-trip for an interview, only to be turned down. 

He ended up in journalism for about a decade, covering sports in the Bay Area where he grew up. Eventually, a shake-up at the newspaper he wrote for and a comment from a coworker convinced him to give his dream of announcing for the minors another shot. 

“I’ll never forget this dude named Mike — everyone called him Rusty. He calls me over after an interview, and he says, ‘You’re better than the people who do this every day. I hope that one day you switch out of writing and do this on a regular basis,’” Suchon said. “I was blown away that he said this to me out of the blue. That was actually one of the things that first triggered the idea of, ‘Maybe I need to give broadcasting another shot. I don’t want to have any regrets in life.’”

He finally landed a job with a tiny Single-A team in Modesto, California, eventually working his way up to his play-by-play gig for the Isotopes. 

“I feel like I’ve succeeded, but I haven’t succeeded to the level that I want to succeed at,” he said. 

Just like the players whose feats he brings to life on the radio, Suchon is hoping to get pulled up to the majors. 

He got a taste of his big dream last year when he was called up to announce for the Rockies — the Isotopes’ major league affiliate — for a couple of games in July. 

“It wasn’t like this one dramatic moment — it was a series of time. But it was super cool,” Suchon said. “And the goal is not just to fill in for two days. The goal is to do every single game in a season. And hopefully one day that’ll happen.”

The Isotopes have had a rough go of it during Suchon’s tenure — they haven’t had more wins than losses over a season since his rookie year —  but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been able to hone his craft over those 13 years. 

“Yes, the Isotopes employ me, and I want the Isotopes to win, but my job is to broadcast this baseball game,” he said. “That’s kind of like, you know, we’re losing ten to one. It’s a tougher broadcast than when it’s a three-to-two game in the bottom of the ninth inning, but I think that’s the ultimate sign of, ‘How good are you?’”

The Rockies aren’t doing great either — which actually gives some of the Isotopes players hope for getting called up. Until they do, Suchon and the Topes will continue packing the Albuquerque ball field like no other team in their division, regardless of their record. 

You can listen to Suchon’s broadcasts on most days of the week on KNML 95.9 FM or the Isotopes’ website.