Eduardo Pérez, former MLB player and coach, is swapping his coach’s uniform for the analyst suit and will return to ESPN. Pérez, who was previously a Baseball Tonight analyst at ESPN from 2006 through 2010, had served as the bench coach for the Houston Astros during the 2013 season.
“This gives me the flexibility to stay involved with a game that I love,” Pérez told the Houston Chronicle. “I’m very passionate about being with my family. I know how things work at ESPN, and this gives me a chance to go back to what I consider family.”
In his return to ESPN which the network officially announced on Monday, Pérez will primarily serve as a Baseball Tonight studio analyst. He will also make appearances on ESPN’s Béisbol Esta Noche on ESPN Deportes. In addition to studio analysis, Pérez will contribute to select game telecasts, beginning with ESPN’s Spring Training coverage. ESPN announced that Pérez will join Steve Levy to call the Washington Nationals at St. Louis Cardinals game on Wednesday, March 26, at 1 p.m. ET, followed by the Nationals at New York Mets on Thursday, March 27, at 1 p.m.
Pérez played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball and also recently served as hitting coach for the Miami Marlins in 2011. With Nomar Garciaparra leaving ESPN to work for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Curt Schilling out indefinitely as he fights cancer, this is a smart, safe move by ESPN to add to their analyst ranks. The familiarity with Pérez for ESPN viewers should no doubt ease the transition and his insights should be a welcome addition back to Bristol's MLB team.
His voice is so terrible I have to change the channel every time he comes on. How could they hire a guy to talk for a living when he grates like fingernails on the chalkboard? Shouldn’t a halfway decent speaking voice be a requirement? Schilling too btw (I know he’s gone already)