ESPN announced today its new Sunday Night Baseball team, which will debut at the start of the 2016 Major League Baseball season. Dan Shulman, the voice of Sunday Night Baseball, will be joined by newly-named analysts Jessica Mendoza and Aaron Boone, and returning reporter Buster Olney. The quartet will make its regular-season debut on Sunday Night Baseball, April 3, as part of ESPN’s exclusive Opening Night coverage of the World Series rematch – New York Mets at World Series Champion Kansas City Royals – at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Mendoza made history in 2015 by becoming the first female analyst for a nationally-televised MLB postseason game (AL Wild Card Game on ESPN), and the first female ESPN MLB game analyst. Mendoza regularly appeared on Sunday Night Baseball with Shulman and Olneyduring the stretch run of the 2015 season and also worked a Sunday Night Baseball telecast alongside Boone.
Boone most recently served as an analyst alongside Shulman for ESPN Radio’s coverage of the World Series, and has been a regular analyst for ESPN’s Monday Night Baseball and for Baseball Tonight: Sunday Night Countdown – ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball pre-game show.
With Mendoza and Boone elevated to Sunday night’s, this means John Kruk and Curt Schilling will be placed into different roles.
Schilling, an ESPN MLB analyst since 2010, will join ESPN Monday Night Baseball as an analyst in 2016. ESPN Monday Night Baseball is a weekly, nationally-televised MLB platform – which showcases the best teams, matchups and players from around the league. He will join fellow analyst Eduardo Perez, who has also been newly appointed to the Monday Night Baseball booth. Karl Ravech and Dave Flemming will split play-by-play duties throughout the season. Schilling will also continue to contribute analysis to Baseball Tonight.
Kruk, an ESPN MLB analyst since 2004, will reprise his role as a full-time Baseball Tonight studio analyst, a role in which he served from 2004 through 2012, before transitioning to game analysis.
Credit to ESPN Media Zone who originally provided this information
Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
