Mets hire Jessica Mendoza in front office role

It has been more than three years since Jessica Mendoza became the first woman to serve as an analyst for a nationally televised MLB postseason game, and her role within baseball is now expanding even more.

The New York Mets announced on Tuesday that they have hired Mendoza to serve as as an advisor to new general manager Brodie Van Wagenen and the team’s baseball operations department. She will continue to work with ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcast.

From the release: pic.twitter.com/P5sEycWfa5

— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) March 5, 2019

Mendoza’s colleague, Alex Rodriguez, also works for ESPN while serving as a special advisor to the New York Yankees, so doing both is not unprecedented.

Mendoza was a four-time First Team All-American outfielder for the Stanford University softball team from 1999-2002 and a member of the US women’s national softball team from 2004-2010. She helped the team win a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. ESPN’s decision to hire her as an analyst has led to some unfair criticism, but she’s done an excellent job of calling games for several years now.