Ladies and gentlemen, meet the newest star at MLB Network. Her name is Abby Labar and in just over a month, she has made the popular highlight show Quick Pitch her very own. This is no small feat given the roster of previous hosts including the talented likes of Siera Santos, Kelly Nash, Keiana Martin, Heidi Watney and others.
Labar has taken her upbeat brand of reporting and humor and totally put her stamp on the production. Labar is new to MLB Network, but not to television. While a student at North Carolina State, she was a bit of a TV sports wunderkind, covering collegiate and professional sports even before she graduated in 2017.
She is a two-time Emmy nominee who has covered the Carolina Hurricanes, ACC football, and worked on various shows on a host of networks. Labar has also experienced the challenges of media fame and is unafraid to share glimpses of her personal life on her social media platforms.
With media ownership changes, personnel shifts, and talent layoffs, there is a revolving door of new faces on network television. Labar is one of these faces, but in this case, it is a welcome change.
Quick Pitch airs each night after MLB games with several reruns into the morning. Its aim is to bring viewers up to date on the complete slate of games with highlights, statistics, news, play by play calls, and player reactions. It is by far the best baseball highlight show on television and the newest incarnation with Labar as host is a huge reason.
Labar does not just present highlights, she performs them. Taking a page from Santos, she goes beyond merely opening the show, introducing the highlights, giving a little commentary, and closing the show. Instead, she has created characters, used props, and presented an overall joyous display of baseball entertainment.
It is obvious that Labar belongs in front of the camera, but she is about far more than fashion and flash. Any host, male or female, can show up to the set, be prepared, look good, and read copy, but this is not Labar’s modus operandi. There is a real exuberance and commitment to everything she does on Quick Pitch, creating a viewing experience for the baseball fan that is inviting, exciting, and delighting.
Beyond the enthusiasm, there is a work ethic to Labar’s efforts. It is always tough when you are the new kid on the block on an established show, but Labar is unshaken by the legacy and hell bent on creating her own.
Let’s keep it real. Quick Pitch is not a host-dependent program. The show quite often opens, goes to break, and returns from break with game highlights. In fact, there are numerous occasions where you don’t see the host for several minutes as one game highlight moves to another.
Moreover, there is an endless chain of graphics, statistics, and sound from the previous day’s games. Still, Labar is making the most of her on-camera minutes and, I believe, garnering more on-screen time because of her sterling performance. As a viewer tuning in, it seems to me that Labar is having a grand old time hosting Quick Pitch.
On recent shows, she has stepped to the plate and took some swings on the MLB Network studio field, offered some dance moves on set, laid down on the studio floor for a highlight intro, did a standup from a makeshift bar, tossed around a basketball, and acted the part of a night club DJ.
She has even tossed good-natured jabs at her fellow MLB network colleagues. Labar recently called out MLB Network anchor Greg Amsinger for being a no-hitter jinx. She showed video of Amsinger spouting that Dodgers’ pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto was on no-hitter alert before his game vs. the Marlins even started. Miami’s Jazz Chisholm, Jr. proceeded to crush Yamamoto’s first pitch of the game for a home run.
On another recent edition of Quick Pitch, Labar donned glasses and played the role of a teacher calling out members of the Dodgers in class. She repeated pitcher Walker Buehler‘s name several times in the mold of Ben Stein’s memorable teacher role in the film Ferris Bueller‘s Day Off. “Buehler, Buehler, Buehler,” she repeated. It was a funny turn.
Labar recognizes her role as host of Quick Pitch. She does not make many critical comments or bold statements on baseball, but she adeptly presents the highlights and graphics, calling attention to the statistical anomalies and coincidences akin to baseball. She is a host in the utmost sense of the word. Game results might be the reason people are tuning into Quick Pitch, but Labar is the reason they are staying and enjoying the program.
On a recent episode, she was talking about the streaking Minnesota Twins and referenced the 1991 Twins team that won the World Series. In detailing what was going on in 1991, she mentioned that a VCR cost $400. The youthful Labar stopped herself and deadpanned, “Wait, what’s a VCR?”
On the May 4th edition, Labar wielded a light saber with Star Wars-like music in the background talking about “May the Fourth Be with You” celebrations throughout baseball. Subsequently, she made mention of the Kentucky Derby and closed the show by riding off the set on a makeshift horse.
Listen, a lot of this stuff is a little bit hokey, and I’m sure the producers and Labar work on these comedic routines in production meetings. Still, for the powers-that-be at MLB Network to have the confidence in Labar to deliver the goods says something about her talent. Moreover, for a relative newcomer to be willing to take those chances is refreshing.
With Labar at the helm, Quick Pitch has evolved from a solid baseball highlight show to an unpredictably fun spectacle. The show is still not totally host driven, but all the features, soundbites, graphics, stats, and highlights are enhanced with Labar as the front person.
I was skeptical as to whether Quick Pitch could maintain its quality, especially with the departure of Santos to MLB Network’s Intentional Talk program, but it is alive, well, and quite possibly better than ever. Santos, Lauren Gardner, and other MLB Network talents still fill in on Quick Pitch, but it has squarely become Labar’s show.
There are a lot of really good young sports personalities out there including Drew Scott, Kendra Andrews, Kayla Burton, and many others. With her creativity and fearlessness, Labar is putting herself not only on this list, but perhaps at the top of it. Quick Pitch is definitely an early season winner, and Labar is the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year.
John Molori is a weekly columnist for Barrett Sports Media. He has previously contributed to ESPNW, Patriots Football Weekly, Golf Content Network, Methuen Life Magazine, and wrote a syndicated Media Blitz column in the New England region, which was published by numerous outlets including The Boston Metro, Providence Journal, Lowell Sun, and the Eagle-Tribune. His career also includes fourteen years in television as a News and Sports Reporter, Host, Producer working for Continental Cablevision, MediaOne, and AT&T. He can be reached on Twitter @MoloriMedia.
