Jessica Mendoza is one of the top baseball broadcasters in the country, calling top MLB games for ESPN while serving as a game analyst for Spectrum SportsNet on local broadcasts of Los Angeles Dodgers games.
In a recent interview on 06010: The ESPN Communications Podcast, Mendoza explained how informative it is to plug in with a star-studded team on a daily basis, as well as how calling Dodgers games has made her a better broadcaster overall.
“I’ve always wanted to be with a team consistently,” Mendoza said. “When I was doing Sunday Night Baseball, I think the hardest thing was you’re dipping in, but you’re absolutely obsessed with these two teams for that week. You’re diving in starting the Tuesday before, you’re meeting with the team, all that. And then you’re leaving to go to two different teams the next week.”
For Mendoza, it is a more traditional opportunity to be around the same group of great players for longer periods of time and learn from them.
“It’s the access that I’ve always wanted, because I am such a nerd and I love to learn,” she said.”So now I can just sit in the back pocket and ask questions and have that consistency, where especially being part of a broadcast, you’re really like a part of the team.”
Mendoza played high level softball and has called baseball games for more about a decade now, but she is still soaking in the life of an MLB player.
“Because I never played Major League Baseball, it’s been a blessing for me to really dive in and understand all the things these guys are going through,” she said.
One such legend she gets to be around this season is Shohei Ohtani, who joined the Dodgers last winter in free agency.
“For me, Shohei has been someone that is difficult to get access to,” Mendoza added. “Now I can actually be around him and talk to him and really see how he goes about his routine and his business. And that’s something, when you’re talking about the greatest of this time period that we’ve seen for the sport … it’s really about the day before, the prep five hours before the game, all of those little things.”
The Dodgers are one team that still brings in a massive local TV audience, and Spectrum spends top dollar on its broadcast team, which includes the new voice of the World Series, Joe Davis.
Mendoza is clearly thriving as part of that crew, and it is helping her continue to develop as a broadcaster even after years on ESPN and beyond.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.