Kelly Saco on Covering MLB and NBA, Finding Her Voice in Sports Media & Career Journey

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:07]Hey everyone, welcome in to another edition of Crawl Me Maybe. Another edition with another bestie of mine from the sidelines days and days ago, but now hosting, reporting for the Marlins, for the Heat. There is a whole bunch of feature pieces happening. I know you still do radio stuff as well. Kelly Seiko on with me this week. And girl, how do you do it all?

[00:00:29]Oh my goodness. I just take it one day at a time quite frankly because when you say all of that, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I'm getting overwhelmed just hearing all that." But I just take it day at a time and I'm just so excited and so just thankful for all the opportunities because really it's it's I enjoy every aspect of everything that I do. I love for my add that I get to do a million different things. It keeps me interested constantly. And I think too it's it's a fun way to engage with the fans in different ways and and show them just the different sides and the different personalities of these guys. I love talking baseball. I love the X's and O's of it all. But it's also fun to get these guys out of their element and into maybe a different one of their elements that's more the personal sides of side of them and show them that hey, listen, these are professional athletes. These are the 1%s of the 1%. However, they're also human beings first and foremost.

[00:01:14]So, it's all just been so much fun.

[00:01:16]>> You're so right about all of that. I know you love storytelling as much as I do. I know you love just getting to know people as much as I do. That's part of where this podcast kind of stemmed from a little bit. And little nod to Carly Ray Json. Why not? Um but I oftentimes Kelly will start this out by asking guests that maybe I don't know as well and I know you and I we have a history and all that, but um to pick up the phone and call 10-year-old Kelly. And I I've because I I know a little bit about you, I have a feeling 10-year-old Kelly was probably already playing softball and already into some of the sports and things. But now looking at your journey, if you were to call her, how would you start a conversation about what's to lie ahead for her in her journey?

[00:02:04]>> Oh my goodness, that's such a wonderful question. And I'm gonna try not to cry in the middle of answering this, right?

[00:02:10]10-year-old Kelly. I look back at it and it's funny that you asked this and I love that you start your podcast out asking this question. It's it's wonderful. It really is. I had a post I think earlier this year for International Women's and and and girls sports day. And that's exactly what I did I went and I posted pictures of 10-year-old's Kelly and my caption.

[00:02:31]>> Yes. My caption was something along the lines of like, "You don't know it yet, but all these softball games, Taekwond do tournaments, swimming meets, they're all going to lead to something great."

[00:02:42]And I would have never in a million years thought, "Okay, all these things I'm doing for fun is going to pave the way for the rest of my life and and what I spend all my days doing in the future." So, I think that's what I would say to her. just all these games that you're playing, they're going to lead somewhere really, really cool.

[00:03:01]>> Like be present, soak it in. You'll never know how this will play out in the end. And truthfully, softball was um I mean, if I'm not mistaken, what you went on to then play in college now, did you take into account >> at any point? Were you thinking also broadcasting or the thought of maybe storytelling in some regard? I mean, what was what was the thought going through high school and playing some of these sports as to, oh, here's what I want to be when I get older, >> right? Honestly, there was no thought of it. I I was definitely the person who was very much in the moment. You know, I think that there's a lot of kids who can't wait to press the fast forward button, right? They cannot wait. They're like, "Oh my gosh, I can't wait to grow up. I can't wait to have a car. I can't wait to do this." I was not that kid at all. I very much was like, "I am very I was not that person. I was which I actually felt sometimes uh so a a little bit uh removed from some of my friends in that in that aspect because a lot of them like oh I want makeup and I I want to go you know do this and do that and and I was just not interested. I was so just where I was at all times. I'm like no I'm really enjoying running around my razor scooter in the park right now and I'm really enjoying racing to you know the concession stand during softball games. I was just so much where my feet were. I was never really thinking like oh I can't wait for college. I can't wait to do this. I can't wait to grow up. I can't wait for this career. It was never really something that was on my mind. I was very much present. So, in high school, I was just enjoying every second of it. I knew I would one day go on to college and I would hope to I loved softball. It was my world. It was my entire world. I loved a lot of other sports as well, but softball really just always had my heart and I would hope to just continue playing that sport because I enjoyed it so much. And I knew very early on that there wasn't going to be a a softball career at the time. It wasn't like, you know, major league baseball, professional softball. It was never to that level. And for me personally, I was like, okay, well, if this isn't something I'm going be able to continue to do for a very long time, then I'm going to already I'm going to take a different path. So, I knew I wanted to be in sports. It was my safe haven. I just didn't know what direction I wanted to go in originally. I thought, okay, maybe sports medicine, but blood makes me faint, so that was going to go poorly. Yes, that was not going to go well. And it was my mother when I was between I was between Auburn University and Syracuse University and um I went to Syracuse and it really was you know when people say when you know you know I always like laugh at those people. I'm like okay. I stepped onto that campus and I was like I just knew it. I knew I had to be there. I'm like this is where I meant to be for the next four years of my life. And it was my mother's suggestion. She said okay sports medicine science not really your thing.

[00:05:32]Uh you still want to stay in sports right? She's just like it's my mom watching this. you know, Syracuse has a great broadcast program. And so I even even in my freshman year, I hadn't decided to go that route yet, like going into Syracuse and committing to Syracuse. It was my mom who said, "Hey, why don't you give this a shot?" But I hate attention. Like, I don't like being the center of attention. I I I didn't like speaking in front of people. All that stuff terrified me, which is one of the reasons why I did it. I love the idea of overcoming those fears and and overcoming a challenge while at the same time being able to stay in the world of sports and being able to tell the stories of athletes because even though I will never say this, I will never be like, "Oh, I know exactly how it feels like to be a major league baseball player." No, never in a million years will I ever know that. But I do know what it is this much to be an athlete at a high level and what goes into all of that. So, I think that it helped me relate to guys and helped me tell the stories better. So, um yeah, here we are today. Now, it all worked out.

[00:06:36]>> No, it it it's amazing and I feel you in that sense because I think there's something to be said for when you've played it to a certain degree. Even if it's your high school friends or it's your college friends, it's like, "Oh, yeah, the tennis player. Oh, yeah, the softball player." And you're like, "Hold on."

[00:06:50]>> There's like so much more of an identity than just that sport. And I feel like you and I empathize with the guys and knowing that they've got families, their dads, their husbands, their sons.

[00:07:00]They're all these things beyond just this player that everybody is attracted to naturally on the field and that's what fandom's all about. But it's like letting people in on the human side is is so important. Now, speaking of which, I cannot tell you how much I admire the fact that you were able to be so present growing up because I was absolutely on the other end. I gotta plan like I've got to know like you know down to the all these things, right? But um did you have siblings, older siblings or how how did you manage to do that when everybody else around you is likely being like Kelly where are you going to school though or what are you going to do with the rest of your life? It sounds like you clearly your mom was there as somebody you could lean on and I thank God for my parents too because I don't know how I would have made some of those big decisions without them. Yeah. What what was sort of the guiding force to being able to to be present like that?

[00:07:53]>> Honestly, that's a wonderful question, Kelly. I My parents huge role, both my mother and my father. I think I was just having so much fun. I loved my life. I really did. I was having so much fun that I just like why do I want to fast forward this? The present is so great and it was such a suburb type Miami suburb type of lifestyle where >> Miami was home for you, right?

[00:08:16]>> Right. born and raised in Miami. So, it was like a very much a Miami style suburb life. So, it just like it was my days were we're in the pool, you know, this is December, mind you, December, January, everyone's freezing. Like we're in the pool and we're on the boat, we're at the beach and and and we're playing sports all year round and it's just what I look back on my childhood remembering is just how much fun I had during those times. And I just never wanted to fast forward it. I had such a good community, such a wonderful sports community um that my parents, you know, created and my parents were part of and and I just really loved my life. I loved my childhood. So, I never really wanted to fast forward it and I I never minded being kind of behind people in that aspect of the growing up aspect where I was just like, "No, like I'm good here and you guys want to grow up?" So, that's fine, but like I I don't want to.

[00:09:06]I like this. Um and I was very much okay with that. I was very much okay with liking my own things and being where I was no matter where everybody else was as well. And I feel like that is probably like a good uh example of my softball career, too. I felt like it took me a little bit to get really good at it. I was always athletic, but I I think I peaked a little bit later. And um I was okay with going at my pace and um going on my own timeline. I just it was something I just always was, I think, because I was just enjoying myself. That's really it's incredible to be that comfortable in your own skin, especially that like young and everything to me. But tell me, has it been able to have you been able to maintain that to a degree in a field that very much asks you to be constantly thinking about what's next and the climb and from this market to that market to the ones who got to get to and I just sat down with Taylor McGregor like last week and we were talking about this exact thing. So, it's so interesting that it's kind of have you been able to find yourself in a place where you were able to be present and enjoy these like the climb of this journey that you've had within your career or like how do you answer that now?

[00:10:16]>> Kelly, first and foremost, like this doesn't surprise me at all, but like you just like knock it out of the park with every question. You really do. You just like I have to give you some some recognition here. I mean, you just like these are awesome questions and such great points and you know because you've been there, right? I think that that was something as well. I think it's a little bit was a little bit harder as I got into this industry because there there's this this is a tough industry. It is and everyone thinks they know what you should be doing. This is what you should be doing. This is where your career should be. This is what you you know who you should be working for. Okay. And I always get the question like now what?

[00:10:52]Like what do you want to do next? And I'm just like you know what? I love what I'm doing. I'm actually I I love being here. This is what I'm doing what I want to be doing. I love being with the team.

[00:11:01]And again, I think it's just the aspect of being an athlete and having been a D1 athlete and having been in athletics my entire life where the people who really know the players and really know what's going on behind the scenes. It's what's going on um in the day-to-day lives are the ones who are there every single day.

[00:11:19]And I think in all sports, but especially in baseball, that really means a lot because things change so much from one week to another. And it's a grind and it's a marathon. So it I've come to realize and I think I the same as probably you and the same as probably as everybody else. You think okay like I'm supposed to go from here to here to here and I need to be an ESPN. I need to be over here and I need to be doing these things and I need to keep growing and I think it got to a point where I got here and I said no actually I love this actually I really like this like this is where I really want to be and u people asked me that question and I'll answer just like that. I'm like no I I love what I'm doing now actually. And I've always said this too. I'm like I try not to worry too much. I It's a balance, right? I'm always prepared and you're always kind of seeing the writing on the wall, especially in this industry. um there's a lot of opinions so you're always kind of you have to have the balance of protecting yourself and protecting your career and and making sure that you have a bunch of different avenues while at the same time for me I think okay if if you're very focused on the job that you are doing now those doors will open up if you want them to later on that as long as you just be the very best at where you are then everything will work itself out >> like organically and I love that what you're saying because I felt the same way when I was being asked to sort of host and report and all this stuff and oh don't you want to go one way or the other and I thought are you to a degree one makes me better at the other and iron sharp and iron right like if I wasn't in that clubhouse every day talking to these guys and getting these stories when I turned around on the host desk and I had these like stories to pull from because I didn't get in the game the other night or whatever it might be when you're when you're reporting and stuff like that now I know you've also done um in fact when we met you were doing a ton of radio as well like is there still a a joy to find yourself doing that sometimes or where does that between all that you've got going on? Where do you find time for that or or how does that look for you now?

[00:13:16]>> I I love radio and I I still the Marlins have been so wonderful to continue to give me the opportunities as my TV role has grown. They've still made sure and it was something that was important for me. I said, "Hey, listen. I know my TV role is growing and I love it and I'm grateful for that. I if there's room for me, I would love to still have some opportunities on the radio. I just have such a passion for for that analyst side of the game and I have a passion um the guys on the radio are amazing. It was first it was Kyle Celoff and now it's um now it's Jack McMullen and then really early on in my career it was Glenn Gffner and those guys were just all of them have been nothing but great to me and it's just it's a different it's a different skill set and it's and it's it's really nice to be able to sit in that chair and just talk about what's unfolding on the field where in silent it's a little bit different. My producers are fabulous. I have one of the best producers. I personally very, you know, I'm very biased, but I think John Souls is one of the best producers out there, you know, in the nation. I think he's he's incredible. He's so supportive and he's always getting me in and we're always finding creative ways to tell stories and it's wonderful. But that that role is different than an analyst. You're watching the game happen. And I'm in a position as an analyst to talk about what just happened, why it happened, how it happened um throughout the entire course of the game. And I I just will always have a passion for it. And there's something so cozy about radio. You're just up there in the booth and there's just nothing very there's nothing complicated to it. You're just sitting there and you're watching the game and you're just talking comment on how your hair looks or what your makeup looks like because you're on radio.

[00:14:50]>> No, you know, no one can. Exactly. No, I don't have to put on my makeup. I don't have to do my hair. I don't have to put on a nice outfit. As much fun as that is, it is nice not getting comments about how I how I look all the time. So 100% yes. You already know.

[00:15:05]>> But I love it because um that role is one that not many who look like us sit in all that often and you are one of those who continues to break ceilings for the girls that are coming behind us.

[00:15:18]And I just uh I thank you for doing that and continuing to do it and doing it well at such a high level. And the last thing I always try kind of to wrap up with here and I won't ask you where you think your career is going, but what does Kelly like to do when she does have a day off maybe in the middle of are we pickle balling down in Miami? Are we like what what are we doing these days, Kelly?

[00:15:41]>> Oh my goodness. I have so many interests outside of that's my problem. I like so many things and I can never like get them all in. I saw the funniest video on Instagram that's like, "Okay, me trying to get all my hobbies in while um in the hour that I have a day and it's like this guy. He like swimming and then he comes up from the water and starts painting a picture and that's literally me because I try to swim a few times a week." Exactly. And I'm just like, "It's me. This is me. This is who I am." And I tried to pick up some hobbies that I could take on the road with me. So, I love to read. I I started a couple book clubs. So, um I'm in a little bit of a reading slump right now, so I'm trying to get back into it. But, um I love to learn. So, I've been taking like American Sign Language classes and I could do that virtually. Um, so I love to draw. So, sometimes I'll get on the plane, I'll get in my fields and I'll put on my headphones and I'll just like in the back of my score book I'll just like start sketching. Um, you got to make it work, right? Got to make time for it. Exactly. I'm like So, so I like to do I love to cook. I love to cook. I really got into cooking um over the off seasonason. So when I'm not working, I just got some music on and like what cool recipe am I going to spend hours in the kitchen doing and uh I I just I I try to spend time with family and friends. So all of that to cram it in.

[00:16:52]It's like my two off days.

[00:16:53]>> That's how you find your balance or at least try to. And I so appreciate you squeezing this in. We've got to let Kelly go because she has a bus to catch to get to the stadium, a Marlins game tonight in New York. Um, and when you're back in Atlanta, I hope we can connect again. But best of luck to you the rest of the season and thank you so much for making time on Crow Me Maybe. Kelly, it was a pleasure.

[00:17:14]>> You're the best, Kelly. I'm so happy we had a chance to do this. Thanks so much for having me.