Sunday nights will have a brand new sound come April as ESPN makes major changes to their Sunday Night Baseball broadcast team. The worldwide leader will add analysts Jessica Mendoza and Aaron Boone as Dan Shulman’s partners, replacing Curt Schilling and John Kruk.
Mendoza, 35, earned glowing reviews at the end of last season filling in for the suspended Schilling and was on the call for both Jake Arrieta‘s no-hitter on August 30 of last year and the American League Wild Card playoff between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees. In 2016, Mendoza will become the second woman to call Major League Baseball on a full-time basis, along with Yankees radio broadcaster Suzyn Waldman. Before joining ESPN, Mendoza has a distinguished career as an outfielder in women’s softball, capturing a gold medal in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
Boone, 42, earns a promotion to Sunday Night Baseball after successfully pairing with new Boston Red Sox television announcer Dave O’Brien for the Monday night game the past three seasons and previously with Sean McDonough. Prior to calling games as a color commentator, Boone was a studio analyst of ESPN Baseball Tonight and a member of the network since his retirement as an active player following the 2009 season. Boone spent 12 seasons in the major leagues from 1997-2009 as a third baseman for six different teams and is best remembered for his iconic home run off Tim Wakefield in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS as a member of the Yankees.
ESPN’s new Sunday night broadcast team will call their first regular season game together on April 3 as the network opens with three games on the schedule, culminating with a rematch of the 2015 World Series between the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals at 8:30 PM eastern time.
Leave a Reply