Jessica Mendoza will be the first female analyst on an ESPN MLB game

A bit of history is being made on ESPN’s Monday Night Baseball this evening – ESPN analyst Jessica Mendoza will be the first ever female analyst on an ESPN MLB game. She’ll be in the booth alongside Dave O’Brien and Dallas Braden, replacing Aaron Boone, currently in Williamsport for the Little League World Series.

This is a pretty big deal, considering the majority of ESPN’s analysts have been ex-players. Technically, Mendoza is also an ex-player – she was a two-time Olympian for the US softball team, winning gold in Athens in 2004 and silver in Beijing in 2008.

Mendoza is also an analyst on Baseball Tonight, joining the crew in 2014 and making appearances throughout the rest of that season and throughout the 2015 season. This year, Mendoza was the first female broadcaster to work the Women’s College World Series for ESPN, sitting in the booth alongside Karl Ravech and Kyle Peterson.

With Boone not available this week, ESPN needed a replacement, and Mendoza was as fine of an in-house choice as any. There’s nothing wrong with giving hard-working people at the network a shot at a more expanded role, and Mendoza has the credentials both on and off the field to deliver a strong performance in the booth.