ESPN picks Jessica Mendoza to replace Curt Schilling
Jessica Mendoza’s Sunday Night Baseball debut must have impressed her bosses, because she’s getting another crack at the position. Mendoza will fill in as an analyst on Sunday Night Baseball through the rest of the season, ESPN PR announced Friday, as a replacement for Curt Schilling.
Mendoza received an opportunity to work as an analyst during last week’s game after Curt Schilling was suspended for tweeting out a meme comparing extremist Muslims to the Nazi Party. ESPN announced Schilling’s suspension would last throughout the rest of the season Thursday, prompting some to wonder whether Mendoza would be the choice to replace him moving forward.
That is the case. Based on the initial reaction from those who watched last week’s game, Mendoza certainly deserved another chance to show off her knowledge in the booth.
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With Mendoza around, the dynamic in the booth certainly changed. Her and John Kruk were able to play off each other’s analysis, allowing for some smart moments during the broadcast.
Mendoza’s expertise was on display all night. She was clearly comfortable as an analyst due to her time in a similar role on Baseball Tonight. The two-time Olympic medalist also showed why she was one of the most feared hitters on the U.S. softball team.
One of Mendoza’s highlights was describing a Dexter Fowler at-bat in the ninth inning. After Fowler singled, Mendoza broke down his swing, saying he made sure to wait until the ball was deep in the zone to offer at the pitch.
Jesse Spector of the Sporting News transcribed the exchange between Mendoza and Kruk following that hit, and their analysis and ability to work together in this scenario was everything a fan could want:
“Fowler just has a good approach. That’s three different pitchers that he’s faced, and all he’s doing is trying to simplify and let this ball get to his back leg. This is something so hard to do as a hitter, because your impatience wants you to get it out in front, but you watch how he lets this ball get back and because of that he’s able to hit it right up the middle. All of his hits tonight coming middle to opposite field.”
Kruk follows up with this: “I think that’s where Dexter Fowler gets in trouble. He gets home run happy, and he tries to pull balls, get out in front of balls and he doesn’t stay back like that. His game to me, even though he has 14 home runs, is get on, create havoc with your legs, hit the ball to all fields.”
That’s the type of analysis fans deserve, and it’s something they haven’t received in the Sunday Night Baseball booth for quite some time.
Overall, it was a strong debut, and an even better game. Mendoza first experience in the booth resulted in a Jake Arrieta no-hitter, so she has a pretty good track record there. While that probably won’t happen again, Gerrit Cole is on the mound this Sunday night.
Even if the game fails to live up to its billing, that shouldn’t impact Mendoza’s ability in the booth. Her strong debut, combined with Schilling’s suspension, has given her the opportunity to make a huge impact for the rest of the year.
It has been a quick ascension for Mendoza, but it’s not undeserved. In late August she became the first woman fill an analyst role during a baseball game on ESPN. Just a few weeks later, she’s become one of the faces of the network’s most prominent baseball broadcast.
[On this week’s StewPod: Listen to our September MLB predictions.]
If she can continue to show the skills she displayed during her debut, there’s a good chance this will become more of a permanent thing.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
