Jenny Cavnar is making Major League Baseball history — again.
Cavnar, a longtime member of the Rockies’ TV broadcast team, is leaving Colorado to become the play-by-play announcer for the Oakland Athletics. The move makes the Smoky Hill High School and CSU alum the first female primary play-by-play voice in Major League Baseball history.
Prior to Tuesday’s announcement by NBC Sports California, Cavnar spent 12 years with the Rockies. During that time, she served on the broadcast in various capacities while emerging as a trailblazer for female sportscasters.
In 2015, she became the first woman to do radio color commentary for a National League game when she was in the KOA 850 booth for the Rockies’ game against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix.
Three years later, she became the first woman since 1993 to do play-by-play of a big-league TV broadcast when she called a Rockies-Padres game at Coors Field. Then in 2021, Cavnar became the first woman to be named Colorado Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.
Cavnar, the daughter of Colorado High School Baseball Hall of Fame coach Steve Cavnar, has seen her national profile rise over the past few years while also taking on more play-by-play jobs outside of baseball. She routinely hosts and contributes to shows on MLB Network Radio, and also did play-by-play for men’s and women’s college basketball on FS1 and Pac 12 Networks.
Prior to her work with the Rockies, Cavnar spent five seasons as a reporter/anchor for the Padres and about five years as a sideline reporter/show contributor covering San Diego State athletics.
With Cavnar’s departure, the Rockies’ broadcast team has a major hole to fill. Spring training begins this week with pitchers and catchers reporting to Salt River Fields in Arizona, but the club has still yet to announce its TV broadcast plans for 2024 after AT&T SportsNet was shuttered at the end of last year. That announcement on the Rockies’ TV plans for this year is imminent.
This story will be updated.