Longtime Canadian broadcaster Rod Black cuts short Cancun trip, calls son's 2nd MLB hit

The Milwaukee Brewers called up infielder Tyler Black on Tuesday, adding the hot-hitting 23-year-old to an already young and inexperienced lineup.

Black, from Stouffville, Ont., was summoned from triple-A Nashville ahead of the Brewers game against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays to add some punch to a struggling offence.

"He's coming on," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "He's a really good athlete and moves really well left to right. It's just experience that he lacks. That's kind of a theme for us."

Black, the son of longtime Canadian sports broadcaster Rod Black, was off to a tremendous start at Nashville. In 117 plate appearances, Tyler Black was batting .303 with three triples, five home runs and 18 runs batted in while compiling a .919 on-base-plus slugging percentage.

Rod Black was in Cancun, Mexico when he received a call from Tyler about his call to the majors and hopped on a plane to Wisconsin. Sitting in the stands at American Family Field, he called his son's fifth-inning single on local television.

The Brewers are hoping Tyler's production will help an offence that's been held to three or fewer runs in 10 of the last 14 games.

Defensively, Black had played primarily at third base since Milwaukee selected him out of Wright State in the first round of the 2021 draft.

After acquiring prospect Joey Ortiz from Baltimore in a trade for Corbin Burnes, the Brewers shifted Black to first base during spring training. He's likely to see most of his action there, splitting time with veteran slugger Rhys Hoskins.

"It's just a thing of being where your feet are," said Black, the Brewers' No. 4 overall prospect. "It's the same game. Pitchers still have to throw it over and plate and I've still got to recognize it and put a good swing on it and swing at good pitches.

"I'm just going to try to keep it as simple as possible. It's the same game I've played my whole life, and nothing changes."

Though Black wasn't in the Brewers' starting lineup Tuesday night, he didn't have to wait long to get his first taste of action in Milwaukee's 8-2 win. Murphy sent the youngster in as a pinch-runner when Gary Sanchez suffered a hamstring injury running to first in the opening inning.

Black stepped into the batter's box for the first time in the third and picked up his first big-league hit, a line-drive double to centre then reached again his next time up on a base hit before falling just a few feet short of his first career home run when he flew out to right in the sixth.

"I just kind of strapped it on and said, 'Here we go,"' Black said after the game of his somewhat unconventional first day in the big leagues. "I wouldn't want it any other way, honestly."