Tampa Bay Rays send off junior announcer

RIVER CLUB — Fourteen-year-old Levi Waxler couldn’t be a bigger baseball fan, even if most of his experience with the game has been from the sidelines.

For the last four years, Levi has served as the junior announcer to the Tampa Bay Rays’ quick-witted announcer, Rusty Kath. Levi and his parents, Tanya and Adam, traveled to the Rays’ stadium at least twice a week in season.

But his last game as junior announcer was Sept. 21.

“It was great,” Levi says of the experience. “I had a lot of fun, awesome memories. Rusty is awesome. He’s the coolest person in the word.”

On Sundays, Levi performed five acts with Kath. He also signed the national anthem for most Friday and Sunday games.

The Waxlers, avid baseball fans, were at the stadium for plenty of big moments — for the famous game 162 against the Boston Red Sox (a game now dubbed the “greatest night in baseball”), a performance from Coco Jones and the Rays’ longest game (18 innings) against the Orioles in September 2013.

And, as junior announcer, Levi also got to interview his favorite player, Ben Zobrist.

“Millions of kids would just love one day to do what he did,” Adam Waxler said.

Although Levi has aged out of the junior announcer post, the timing was perfect. He was sad to say goodbye to the friends he made, but he is eager to perform more with the water skiing team, Ski-A-Rees, that he and his family are involved in on weekends.

Waxler said he still plans to sign the national anthem for the Rays, on occasion.