Mendoza breaks broadcast barrier
Curtis Granderson had known enough about Jeff Samardzija to have a good idea of his repertoire.
But on a 1-2 count, immediately after Samardzija blazed a 94.4-mph fastball that was fouled off, he dropped an 80.3mph curve on the outside corner to the lefty-swinging Granderson, who froze.
He had no idea it was coming, no idea what to do. Strike three.
“This is the pitch,” Jessica Mendoza immediately noted, “that Samardzija didn’t throw for four years, and I love it’s back in his repertoire. “Why?” Mendoza asked. “Because when he’s throwing midto upper 90s and he comes back with an 80-mph curveball ... look at where he just paints this pitch. It’s almost impossible to hit when it’s 14 mph slower than the fastball he threw to Granderson the pitch before.”
Yes, Samardzija broke out a new pitch in recent starts, and Mendoza helped introduce it to a national-television audience. It was during last Sunday night’s game between the Giants and Mets, and Mendoza was three days from her oneyear anniversary as an MLB analyst.
She’ll be in Boston on Sunday for the Red Sox-Royals broadcast, accompanying Dan Shulman and Aaron Boone in the Fenway Park booth.
The first woman to call a nationally televised playoff game and ESPN’s first female baseball analyst, Mendoza, 35, has risen to the top of her profession both in status and ability. She’s bright, witty and quick and breaks down a play or at-bat with clarity, skill and a fresh perspective and energy.
Mendoza obviously does her homework based on her knowledge of the Giants’ and Mets’ rosters. Her take on Samardzija was drawn from a previous conversation she had with the pitcher.
“When I talked with him in spring training, the big thing he was working on — remember, he was a new Giants player — was the split-finger,” Mendoza said during the broadcast. “He said, ‘I need something below 87 mph,’ but he couldn’t get the split slow enough. It was the curveball for him that he just found — we’re talking four starts ago — to be able to get something down in that 80-mph range.”
Indeed, according to the analytical website Fangraphs. com, Samardzija, whose struggles dated to late May, began throwing a curve on July 29 against the Nationals. It had been four years since he threw a curve, August 2012. His reuniting with the pitch has corresponded with his resurgence on the mound. His past four starts, his ERA is 1.75.
Mendoza replaced Curt Schilling, whose offensive remarks on social media prompted ESPN to demote him and eventually fire him. From the start, Mendoza was criticized throughout social media and by radio talkies who seemed desperate for attention.
Reading and hearing the criticism, however, it’s clear that most abuse comes from people who know less about baseball than she does but can’t admit it. Or they simply still live in the ’50s. If everything she said came from a male’s voice, they might be compelled to think, “Damn, he’s good.”
No one can fairly say she doesn’t know the game or doesn’t have a smooth delivery or doesn’t work well with her colleagues. When the biggest complaint is, well, she’s a woman in a man’s game, we’re reminded of the definition of ignorance.
Brandon Belt, who has struggled since the All-Star break, was 0-for-2 with a strikeout and walk in the Sunday game, and Mendoza noted how Mets starter Noah Syndergaard was busting him inside with fastballs.
“Guys are not afraid to attack Brandon Belt, especially inside,” Mendoza said during a Belt at-bat. “That last pitch was right in on the hands. A lot of lefties usually don’t see that. But when Belt is struggling, it’s because he’s not catching up to that fastball.”
Mendoza knows the game because she played the game. Wait a minute. She played the game? Indeed, she played fastpitch softball. More than some people realize, it translates to baseball, and anyone who competed enough in both would say as much.
Pitches come in at a different angle. Batting stances can be different. The rules are different on leadoffs. It’s a smaller diamond. But it’s just as intense (and can be quicker), and there are enough similarities to connect the dots as an analyst. In fact, with how rigidly mechanics are emphasized through the youth ranks in softball, it’s no wonder Mendoza can break down the game along with any expert in the field.
The former outfielder was a first-team All-American at Stanford all four years. She helped the U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in 2004 and silver in 2008 and would have remained an Olympian if baseball and softball weren’t eliminated in 2012. They’ll be reinstated in 2020, and Mendoza said she’s not coming out of retirement but plans to be in Tokyo as a fan or commentator.
Meantime, she’ll continue covering baseball and making spot-on observations.
On Denard Span’s unusual stance: “He’ll really close off that front toe, to the point it’s almost facing the catcher. That’s a reminder more so than anything mechanical to keep that front side closed so he’s not rolling over groundballs.”
On pitching to Hunter Pence: “He has an ability to reach all pitches when you look at the variance of balls that he’s gotten hits on this season alone. Balls are everywhere in the strike zone, low and high, and he can pretty much reach any level of pitch, at least get his barrel on the ball.”
At one point late in the game, Gregor Blanco was so desperate to reach against the dominant Syndergaard that he ran up on a pitch and tried to push the ball past third base. He missed badly, but it brought back memories for Mendoza because that’s an old softball weapon. “Literally a softball-style slapper,” she said.
Samardzija yielded no hits through six innings, and Mendoza suggested, “You know a third time through the lineup, these Mets hitters might start sitting on the high fastball.” Granderson opened the seventh by reaching out for a 95-mph fastball and doubled to left, and Yoenis Céspedes blasted a low splitter for a home run. The Mets won 2-0.
“That is exactly why he likes the ball down in the zone, because he knows how to drop the barrel,” Mendoza said of Céspedes. “He struggles with pitches up. But if you get him down in his cookie zone, that’s what he does with it.”
Spoken like a thoughtful, knowledgeable and believable analyst. Because she is one.