By: Cedric Wu

Joe Davis got his dream job, the lead play-by-play voice for baseball on Fox, in March. He replaced Joe Buck, a play-by-play man of legendary status, who left for ESPN. Davis, 34, has long prepared for the job, waiting for a time to shine.

Davis has incredibly large shoes to fill. He is set to take after the industry’s titans. Davis must take over for Joe Buck, who called the World Series 24 times, the most from any play-by-play announcer ever.

“It’s just amazing, the little wrinkles he’s always ready for, and it never feels scripted from him,” Davis said, admiring the work of Buck. “When the moment happens, he captions it and captures it and gets out of the way.”

When the Fox Sports Director, Brad Zager, first heard Davis’s work a decade ago, he was amazed. Davis was a professional despite seemingly being new to the industry.

“There were two things: the actual tone of his voice, the cadence and all that, but also I was caught off guard by a young broadcaster who actually wasn’t over-talking,” Zager said.

The precision and high-quality performance that Davis gives can be attributed to his dedicated study. Davis even studied four baseball broadcasts in the airport after the basketball game he was supposed to call got postponed.

When Davis was in college he applied for a private theater instructor, just to perfect his voice while calling. He would apply his new knowledge in his dorm room, reciting and practicing techniques by himself.

After graduating in 2010, he would work as a play-by-play man for the Montgomery Biscuits, a direct affiliate to the Tampa Bay Rays. He would eventually transition to ESPN in 2012, eventually becoming the voice of the Dodgers.