Aug. 28, 2025
Contact: Eric Stann, StannE@missouri.edu
Photos courtesy Rory Whetstone
From a young age, Rory Whetstone wasn’t just a baseball fan — she was a student of the game. Every radio broadcast was a lesson, preparing her for the day when she could tell those same stories as a team reporter.
“My mom still laughs about the time she thought I was sneaking my phone into my room to watch YouTube when I was 10,” she said. “But I was listening to the Chicago Cubs game on ESPN radio, tracking how the announcers described every swing, every pitch and every steal.”
So when it was time to choose a college, the Chicago native turned to the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where she could earn a degree in journalism with an emphasis in sports broadcasting while racking up real-world experience as a sideline and Olympic sports reporter.
Her ambitions came full circle this summer, when Whetstone — a self-described “baseball nerd” — landed her dream internship at MLB Network, working alongside some of the biggest names in sports journalism.
Inside the action
At MLB Network’s studios in Secaucus, New Jersey, Whetstone was on the news production and assignment desk — the newsroom’s control center.
No two days were alike. Sometimes that meant taking posts from team social accounts —photos or videos — and sending them to producers to use in the show. For example, when the Washington Nationals called up their “bat dog,” Whetstone spotted the post on social media, and producers ended up using the clip on the network’s show “MLB Central.”
“The assignment desk is like a heartbeat,” she said. “If news breaks, we’re the ones making sure the whole network knows and pivots instantly.”
That pressure became real when, mid-show, news broke that Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Corbin Burnes had torn his UCL and would miss the rest of the season. Within seconds, Whetstone was firing updates to the show’s producers, and the entire broadcast shifted course.
Thanks to her Missouri School of Journalism training, she didn’t blink.
“Those early journalism classes taught me to think fast and trust my instincts,” she said. “In that moment, everything I’d learned at Mizzou kicked in.”
One of the biggest thrills of her internship came on MLB trade deadline day, when she sat in the middle of the action as all the reporters for the network were breaking trades involving all 30 teams. But the best part of the day was getting to sit beside Jon Morosi, a veteran journalist she had watched and admired since childhood.
“Even though it was a simple conversation, it was a huge moment for me,” she said. “Moments like that really reinforced why I love this field.”
Learning from legends
For Whetstone, the highlight of her time at MLB Network was learning from her idols, veteran sportscasters Abby Labar and Lauren Shehadi.
“For them to take me under their wings and give real career advice was incredible,” she said. “Both of them treated me like a colleague, not just as an intern. That meant everything to me.”
That kind of generosity ran through the newsroom. Coffee runs turned into career chats. Colleagues helped her with filming clips for her portfolio. Everywhere she looked, people were invested in her growth.
“From day one, people treated me like I was an integral part of the team,” she said. “That support helped me walk away a stronger student, journalist and person.”
Then came the starstruck moments — watching MLB network personalities Harold Reynolds, Mark DeRosa and Adnan Virk break down the game with precision, just feet away from her. She even got to chat with each of them, and the advice they shared are lessons she still treasures today.
“They made me see the game through a whole new lens,” she said.
Ready for what’s next
The internship furthered Whetstone’s ambition to become a Major League Baseball team reporter by giving her a clearer picture of the job and fresh insights that she hadn’t considered before.
“There’s no perfect roadmap,” she said. “Take it one day at a time, work on your craft and don’t be afraid of mistakes — they’re where the best learning happens.”
The role also forced her out of her comfort zone to master technical skills such as booking satellite feeds and coordinating media availability.
“By the end, I wasn’t just more confident — I was transformed,” Whetstone said. “This experience showed me there are many ways to get into sports media, and it confirmed that choosing the Missouri School of Journalism was the best decision I’ve ever made.”
