By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
For the first time since April of 2009, a Kalas will be a full-time play-by-play announcer in the MLB in 2017.
Following in the footsteps of his father Harry, a former Hall of Fame announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies, Todd Kalas has been hired to be the full-time announcer for the Houston Astros, the team announced Thursday:
Todd Kalas will join @blummer27 on the Astros television broadcast team for @ROOTSPORTSSW in 2017. Welcome to Houston, Todd! pic.twitter.com/QFoBh9Mxpp
— Houston Astros (@astros) December 22, 2016
Todd Kalas, who was born in Houston as his father, the late Hall of Fame announcer Harry Kalas, was beginning his storied big league broadcasting career with the Astros in the mid-1960s, will return to his birthplace as the Astros' new play by play announcer on Root Sport Southwest.
Kalas will join Geoff Blum in the TV booth as the successor to Bill Brown, who retired at the end of the 2016 season, the Astros announced Thursday.
This comes after Todd, 50, spent nearly two decades with the Tampa Bay Rays organization in a Gregg Murphy type role. He briefly worked in the Phillies organization in the mid 1990s, working with his father, Richie Ashburn and Chris Wheeler in the television booth for three seasons.
In many ways, as pointed out in the previously referenced article from the Houston Chronicle, Kalas joining the Astros organization is a sign of things coming full circle. Prior to a near four decade stint as the Phillies announcer, Todd's father got his start in Houston. Now in Todd's first role as a full-time announcer, he's heading to Houston, a team that figures to be a World Series contender for some time to come.
Harry was the Phillies announcer from 1971 until passing away prior to a game against the Washington Nationals in April of 2009, less than six months after Kalas called the final out of the team's 2008 World Series title, which ironically came over Todd's then employer, the Rays.
