DENVER — Carlos Guillén, who has a familiar last name but is no relation to the former Detroit Tiger, has a crazy, ever-expanding job.
Guillén works in the Tigers communications department and does a little bit of everything. You might have seen him on TV, standing next to a Spanish-speaking player during an interview because he is the translator.
But he does so much more than that.
When the Tigers promote or cut a Spanish-speaking player, Guillén sits in the room and delivers the news from the front office and manager A.J. Hinch.
“I gotta be in the middle, which is tough, because I’m friends with them,” he said.
But he does so much more than that.
Guillén helps Spanish-speaking players get housing. Or purchasing a vehicle. Or helping them get their power started with DTE. Or anything, really. Currently, there are several Tigers who are bilingual, but only two players — Keider Montero and Andy Ibáñez — who require a translator. That’s a massive change from a few years ago when the Tigers had 13 Spanish speakers on the roster, and six or seven did not speak any English.
But he does so much more than that.
In his ever-expanding role, Guillén has become the voice of the Tigers for Spanish-speaking fans. He is the play-by-play announcer for a Spanish broadcast that has expanded to include every home game this season on WDTW-FM (107.9) and WDTW-AM (1310) — a regional radio station based in Dearborn and serving the Detroit radio market. The broadcast can also be heard on the SAP audio feed as part of the FanDuel Sports Network Detroit app, the Odysee app and the MLB app.
“Carlos knows the players and their families and their stories better than 99.5% of the world,” said Ben Fidelman, the director of communications and broadcasting for Ilitch Sports + Entertainment.
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This is Guillén’s seventh season with the Tigers.
“He’s uniquely suited to be a great broadcaster,” Fidelman said. “He has a ton of trust with specifically our Spanish speaking players, just because he’s communicating with them in a way that not everybody in our organization can.”
Guillén is paired with former Tiger utility player Barbaro Garbey, the color analyst.
The Tigers dipped into this idea by broadcasting one game in Spanish in 2022. But it has quickly grown. In 2023, they did 22 games. It grew to 45 last season. Now, they are doing every home game — that’s 81 games in all.
“I would say that the Spanish language is a huge part of baseball culture in general,” Fidelman said. “When you look at demographic trends across the US, and even in our local area and throughout Michigan, it’s a really important part of our fanbase.”
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Most clubs have a Spanish broadcast.
“Last time I researched it, it was 28 out of the 30,” Guillén said
Guillén has heard from Tigers fans in Chile, Spain and the Middle East.
“It is the vision of everyone in the front office that this is important for the Tigers, and, most importantly, for the Tigers fans,” Guillén said. “It’s been amazing. Everyone in the front office has given their support and we can tell the results.”
But there is another group that might benefit as well: Students who are studying Spanish.
“If you want to learn how to speak Spanish, it’s a great way to do that as well,” Fidelman said.
Listening to the Tigers and getting to claim you are doing homework.
Brilliant.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff.
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This story was updated to add a gallery.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers’ do-everything broadcaster Carlos Guillén does more than just handle radio
Reporting by Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
