Some broadcasters, and broadcast moments, work in multiple languages. That happened on the San Diego Padres’ Spanish-language TV and radio broadcast of their clash with the Arizona Diamondbacks Friday night. There, famed broadcaster Eduardo Ortega interrupted his Spanish-language call of a Gavin Sheets home run for an English “Holy SHEEEETS!,” followed by “Sheets, Sheets, RA, RA, RA!”
Ortega has called Padres’ games in Spanish since 1987. But he certainly still has a lot of excitement for that role. That’s shown with the passion he put into this seventh-inning solo shot, which only changed the score from 7-0 to 8-0.
This moment was maybe even more notable for Sheets, though. The outfielder joined the Padres as a free agent this offseason. He made that move after he was cut by the Chicago White Sox in November. And Sheets recently told Jeff Saunders of The San Diego Union-Tribune being cut by the team that drafted him 49th overall in 2017 “fueled me a little bit, to say the least.”
That fuel has certainly worked out for Sheets so far. He was hitting .316/.357/.526 through Saturday, all career-highs.
This was Sheets’ second home run on the year, and there may be more to come. And that could set the stage for some future notable Gavin Sheets calls from Ortega down the road this season.
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.