Over the years in which Matt Vasgersian has been situated in press boxes calling Major League Baseball games, fans have become accustomed to his cadence and delivery across a variety of platforms. As someone with both a regional and national presence, he is a component to this proverbial soundtrack of summer and brings a warm tone to every assignment. With his enduring presence at MLB Network in a multifaceted role working at the ballpark and in the studio, Vasgersian discerns that being able to exercise his versatility assists in other areas of his media portfolio and has engendered overall growth.
Although Vasgersian arrives to every broadcast poised and prepared to effectuate a strong performance, he cannot portend the climax or seminal alterations in the momentum. When the watershed moments occur, such as a go-ahead home run, diving catch or bases-loaded strikeout, he has demonstrated the ability to punctuate the action and accurately encapsulate the environment without taking center stage.
“There are little things that people have shared with me that exist online of me yelling, ‘Santa Maria!’ into the microphone, and it makes it sound like I do it five times a game,” Vasgersian said. “I try to keep that reserved for the big stuff. The ‘Santa Maria’ exclamation is really like saying, ‘Holy sh*t’ without saying ‘Holy sh*t’ on TV. It’s that knock-your-socks-off bit of athleticism, that unbelievable outcome, that thing that gets the crowd whipped into a frenzy.”
Vasgersian has used the phrase throughout his broadcasting career calling matchups ranging from regular-season contests to the seventh game of the World Series. As one of the voices on MLB Network Showcase broadcasts, he travels the country throughout the year to document compelling matchups to national audiences. At the same time, he follows the Los Angeles Angels throughout the season and calls select regional games, all of which enhances his abilities to better understand and convey baseball nuances as a studio host.
“I am always cognizant of, ‘The game comes first, the players come first,’” Vasgersian said. “I think that I try to appeal, or at least I try to demonstrate a knowledge of the game and a knowledge of the culture of the game without becoming the story, and I am convinced that that’s the right way to do it. Everybody has their own philosophy. No one’s turning on MLB Network to see Matt Vasgersian. They’re turning on the network to see baseball, and I’m facilitating that.”
Storytelling is Baseball at Its Core
MLB Network recently celebrated its 15th anniversary on the air, and Vasgersian has consistently been spread across different shows in its programming lineup. As one of the hosts of the Emmy award-winning MLB Tonight, he brings baseball fans the latest news and developments around the game while positioning his analysts to decipher what is taking place. Vasgersian remembers that when the league-owned broadcast entity launched in 2009, people felt an obligation to effectively impart history while promoting modern aspects of baseball. Although the network has not completely forsaken previous epochs, he indicated a shift towards further embracing the ongoing contemporary derivation.
“It’s a tough thing to do because we’re talking about a game with 130 years of history here, and you can’t ignore it,” Vasgersian said. “It’s too important, and unlike the other three major North American sports – four, count soccer in there as well – our game is deeper. There’s more here than there is in the NBA and in the NFL. Even though I’m big fans of all those sports, I just think we have a little bit more, we have more storytelling to do.”
While he is not an analyst by trade, being around the game has allowed Vasgersian to think critically about different issues and scenarios surrounding the sport. As someone with no professional playing experience, he is not trying to present himself as an expert but also knows his place on the shows. Vasgersian and his colleagues are consuming baseball content throughout the day, tracking the news cycle and exploring their sports curiosities under the aegis of a robust research staff.
“We have access to every single bit of minutiae you could ever think of just through these folks in our research team,” Vasgersian said. “They are just spectacular, and the best part of my day is going in before a show, hanging around in the research area in the cube farm and bulls******g with those dudes and coming up with not only topics, but drilling down on things that you might have seen.”
Starting this season, MLB Network is airing a national pregame show edition of MLB Tonight featuring Greg Amsinger hosting with Harold Reynolds and Dan Plesac delivering analysis. Vasgersian is usually on the air for later editions of the program and works alongside analysts such as Chris Young, Jake Peavy and Yonder Alonso. During the offseason though, he takes the airwaves early for Hot Stove and works with Reynolds and Lauren Shehadi to delineate the latest offseason news, interview personnel and preview the upcoming season.
“We are doing the show in large part for each other, and I think that’s the secret sauce for a lot of successful ensemble shows,” Vasgersian said. “When you like each other and you’re doing it for and with each other for the pure joy of a reaction from your friend or colleague, it comes off on TV.”
The Back of Your Baseball Card is All About Routine
With the start of the regular season comes a change in Vasgersian’s quotidian routine, specifically as it pertains to his break from working. Rather than rising early, he is oftentimes sleeping late trying to preserve his energy and prevent himself from becoming fatigued when games are being played. When he is on the road calling games, he remains disciplined and aims to keep his routine as stable as possible despite usually facing time changes. Yet there were instances where Vasgersian tried to balance an assortment of ventures and maximize his capabilities, arrangements that became unwieldy for him to sustain over time.
“Looking back, maybe my eyes were bigger than my stomach, and it was pretty ambitious to think that I could still do Sunday Night Baseball, MLB Network and the Angels,” Vasgersian said. “It was – it was overly ambitious. I think I’m much better for the experience of having been at ESPN for four years because you learn a lot about the scrutiny of doing a standalone game every week, and that’s not to say that I hadn’t done that with FOX before.”
Vasgersian called Sunday Night Baseball games with Jessica Mendoza and Álex Rodríguez until the 2021 season when he stepped away from the broadcast entity and focused his efforts on other work. Nonetheless, he recognizes the platform of the prime time broadcast property and contends that the next year will test executives about where rights within the ESPN MLB media deal end up landing amid the mutual opt-out between both companies. Vasgersian does not have any inside knowledge about the situation, but he speculates that baseball will value reach in this endeavor and not look to conceal the product.
“They want it to have a prominent place, they want it to get its due,” Vasgersian said. “The standalone Sunday night game’s a big deal. All the stuff ESPN has is a big deal, and that’s why, I think, baseball requires it commanding a premium, not just in terms of rights fees, but just a premium in terms of the attention and the treatment that it gets.”
The Road to the Show on MLB Network
Before joining MLB Network in 2009, Vasgersian had not primarily broadcast MLB games at the national level and took a leap of faith in joining the company. Tony Petitti, the former president and chief executive officer of MLB Network, communicated a clear vision to Vasgersian and convinced him to exit his role as the television voice of the San Diego Padres. Leading up to that point though, he was content with this position and did not wish to depart the regional role but ultimately realized the gravity of the venture and its future potential.
Aside from committing his time to MLB Network as the enterprise sought to garner audience and accrue market share, Vasgersian had to make other sacrifices in his career. For example, he stepped back from regularly broadcasting NFL games for FOX Sports, although he continued calling baseball games periodically for the conglomerate. On top of that, he was no longer going to be living in San Diego, a community with which he was invested and was a homeowner.
“You make the main thing the main thing, and for me, the main thing was baseball, and it was almost like a perfect time in my life and a perfect thing for me to jump on an all-baseball channel,” Vasgersian said. “It was so exciting to be part of it, still is. It still is, but back then, none of us knew what we were doing, and it was a blast to go through the growing pains.”
In addition to his other responsibilities, Vasgersian has volunteered to participate in audio projects at the company. As he hosts the MLB Network Podcast for a second season, the network is airing the show on linear television Sunday mornings and also distributing the venture across podcasting platforms. Moreover, MLB Network recently started simulcasting the final hour of The Leadoff Spot from SiriusXM as it leans further into audio content. As baseball seeks to reach a generation immersing themselves in digital content, the network is also available on various streaming services and through a direct-to-consumer functionality.
“Consumption of the sport is up at record levels, and a lot of naysayers would point just to one thing and say, ‘Oh, this sport isn’t doing what it used to do,’” Vasgersian remarked. “Well, TV ratings are not as indicative of consumption as they once were because there are so many different ways that younger people are consuming baseball.”
You Can’t Hit the Ball Unless You Learn to Swing
Although the traditional avenues of reach have diminished commensurate with waning penetration of pay television, MLB Network continues to innovate and remain on the cutting edge of new technology. As it executes new channels through which to reach the audience, Vasgersian understands that while business arrangements may change, having a home base attenuates the risk of being minimized. Throughout his 15-year tenure with the company, he has been afforded chances to exhibit his skills and hopes to produce something to be determined in the future.
“You learn something doing play-by-play that you didn’t know yesterday, and you learn something studio hosting that you didn’t know yesterday about the game, the sport, and it’s huge,” Vasgersian said. “I’ve been given opportunities that I otherwise would not have been given because I like doing both, and the people I work for are very generous in allowing me to do so.”
There has been an influx of new personalities on the MLB Network airwaves expressing their thoughts and contributing to different content areas in recent years. Programming throughout the lineup has been revamped amid altered consumer proclivities with hosts, analysts and reporters bestowing their insights and expertise on the national pastime. MLB Network has been able to showcase tradition while staying at the forefront of innovation all convalescing to create a distinctive on-air product, and Vasgersian remains optimistic towards its direction as it prepares to relocate to new headquarters in 2028.
“We all have the same goal – we want the network to succeed, and I think having been there long enough, I think I’ve convinced enough people that that’s important to me to where I’m not going to suggest something that’s detrimental to the network, and having that strong leadership, people that listen and people that are also doing things that you’re unaware of,” Vasgersian said. “I don’t run the building – that’s for sure. They do, and they’re worried about things and engaged in things that I have no idea about that I’m confident that they’ll nail because we’ve done a pretty good job over it for 15 years.”
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Derek Futterman is a former associate editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. Find him on X @derekfutterman.
