Matt Vasgersian is going to be a busy man this upcoming baseball season.
The veteran broadcaster has been a staple of MLB Network for 17 years, has called the Los Angeles Angels for the last five years, had a four-year stint as the voice of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball from 2018 to 2021, called several seasons of baseball for Fox Sports before then, and also made stops in San Diego and Milwaukee, calling the local MLB clubs in those markets.
Now, he’s adding a new title to his resume: Lead voice of MLB Sunday Leadoff on Peacock. NBC announced the move on Wednesday.
Vasgersian has worked for NBC in the past, having called select MLB games and Olympic baseball, but this will be his first permanent gig with the network. The Sunday Leadoff package is semi-exclusive; games start a bit before the rest of the league’s Sunday afternoon slate. The first game on the Sunday Leadoff schedule is Blue Jays-Twins at 12:30 p.m. ET on May 3.
It’s unclear who will call games alongside Vasgersian, though if NBC’s strategy with Sunday Night Baseball is any indication, he could be paired up with analysts from the teams playing in the game.
In addition to being named the play-by-play voice for MLB Sunday Leadoff, it was also announced that Vasgersian will call NBC’s Opening Day broadcast between the Pirates and Mets on March 26. Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Vasgersian will call Netflix’s Opening Night broadcast between the Giants and Yankees from San Francisco on March 25. It’ll be a quick turnaround for Vasgersian to make it across the country in time to call Pirates-Mets at 1 p.m. ET the following day.
In addition to calling Peacock’s early Sunday package, Vasgersian will continue his usual role at MLB Network.
Wednesday’s announcement should solidify the veteran broadcaster as a solid No. 2 play-by-play voice for NBC behind Jason Benetti, who will lead the network’s Sunday Night Baseball package. That will put Vasgersian in line to call some key games during the Wild Card round this season, as NBC takes over the early postseason inventory from ESPN.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.