John Rieger - USA Today Sports
John Rieger - USA Today Sports

ESPN reaches multi-year extension with analyst Jessica Mendoza


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ESPN today announced it has reached a multi-year extension with Major League Baseball analyst Jessica Mendoza. She made history in 2015 by becoming the first woman to serve as a national television analyst for MLB games.

As part of the new deal, Mendoza will continue to contribute analysis to ESPN’s signature MLB platform – Sunday Night Baseball – alongside Alex Rodriguez, Matt Vasgersian and Buster Olney. Additionally, Mendoza will appear on ESPN’s MLB studio show Baseball Tonight, plus appear more regularly on SportsCenter and Get Up!.

Jessica Mendoza:

“I’m beyond excited to continue to work as a baseball and softball analyst at ESPN. The support I’ve received at ESPN is incredible. I look forward to continuing to help grow the sports of softball and Major League Baseball through our second-to-none coverage by utilizing cool technology, offering exciting insights, and doing it all with passion.”

Mendoza, considered one of the greatest Softball players ever, will also continue her role as a lead analyst for ESPN’s NCAA Women’s World Series coverage. She is a Stanford University multi-category record-holder, holding the school’s all-time records in batting average, hits, runs, home runs, stolen bases and slugging percentage. As a member of Team U.S.A., she won an Olympic Gold medal in Softball at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and she won a Silver Medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The National Softball Hall of Fame recently announced that Mendoza would be a member of the class of 2019.

Mark Gross, ESPN senior vice president, production and remote events:

“Jessica’s preparation, expertise and work ethic are among the many attributes that make us proud to have this trailblazer with us for years to come. She forms tremendous relationships in the sport with executives, managers and players and those connections help inform our telecasts and make them better. Her passion for the sport is contagious.”

On August 24, 2015, Mendoza made history by becoming the first woman to serve as an analyst for a nationally televised MLB game – St. Louis Cardinals vs. Arizona Diamondbacks on ESPN2. On August 30, 2015, Mendoza called her first Sunday Night Baseball telecast as an analyst before working the remainder of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast for the season.

On October 5, 2015, Mendoza made history again by becoming the first woman to serve as an analyst for a MLB Postseason game telecast: ESPN’s coverage of the American League Wild Card Game between the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros at Yankee Stadium. Shortly thereafter, ESPN officially announced Mendoza as a full-time Sunday Night Baseball analyst – a role she has held since the start of the 2016 season.

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