Jessica Mendoza Pinch Hits for ESPN Baseball

Jessica Mendoza Pinch Hits for ESPN Baseball

At the Louisville Slugger Hit Club earlier this month, Jessica Mendoza—one of the legends of softball—told the 10 athletes in attendance to “always be prepared, you never know when you’ll be needed.” She’s living up to her own counsel as the former Olympi

Aug 29, 2015 by Brentt Eads
Jessica Mendoza Pinch Hits for ESPN Baseball
At the Louisville Slugger Hit Club earlier this month, Jessica Mendoza—one of the legends of softball—told the 10 athletes in attendance to “always be prepared, you never know when you’ll be needed.”

She’s living up to her own counsel as the former Olympian and current ESPN broadcaster has been tabbed to replace Curt Schilling, the ex-Major League Baseball star pitcher, after he was pulled from Sunday night’s game between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodges after getting in hot water when he tweeted a meme comparing radical Muslims to Nazis.

Jessica Mendoza spoke to the Louisville Slugger Hit Club players on Aug. 3 about how she was preparing to become the first female analyst for ESPN to do a MLB game.
Jessica Mendoza spoke to the Louisville Slugger Hit Club players on Aug. 3 about how she was preparing to become the first female analyst for ESPN to do a MLB game.
Mendoza wasn’t scheduled to do another MLB game until Labor Day—Monday, Sept. 7—but was hurriedly called up this week with just days to prepare.

Mendoza spoke to the Hit Club players on Monday, August 3 in Huntington Beach, Calif. about how excited, but equally nervous she was to become the first female analyst to be used by ESPN for an MLB game on August 24, last Monday, when she worked on the St. Louis Cardinals and Arizona Diamondbacks game.

“Yes, I’m nervous to take on this challenge,” she said back then, “but it’s a great opportunity and I’m approaching it like I approached a big game when I was a player, working hard and doing everything possible physically and mentally to succeed on the field.”

On Thursday, Mendoza told the New York Times about how she felt the milestone broadcast went.

““I definitely tried to prepare as if I’d done it a million times so it wouldn’t seem like anything unique. My heart was pumping in the first inning like it was in the first inning of an Olympic game. But after that first at-bat — boom! — it felt comfortable.”

The former Stanford All-American has been steadily climbing the ranks at ESPN, doing softball telecasts since 2007 including the Women’s College World Series and began working in baseball productions last year when she began offering analysis for “Baseball Tonight.” This summer she was also used as a field analyst for the Vanderbilt and Virginia Men’s College World Series.

Ironically, Schilling was a field analyst for the Women’s College World Series this year between Florida and Michigan. The Gators won their second straight title and Schilling was brought in because of his visibility as a former World Series champion for the Boston Red Sox and because he has a daughter playing college softball.

His social media controversy, however, forced him to the bench and opened the door for Mendoza to once again enter the national spotlight where she continues to excel.

“I want this to be more than a one-off,” she told the Times. “If you do it just one time, you’ll never see any growth.”