Astros are Guinea pigs for ESPN’s worst idea in years

The Houston Astros are going to be part of a broadcasting experiment for ESPN for their Sunday Night Baseball game against the Texas Rangers.

Recently, ESPN has had one player mic’d up for their weekly Sunday Night Baseball game, where they will speak with the broadcast team of Karl Ravech, Eduardo Perez and David Cone. Additionally, that player gets to nominate someone to be mic’d up for the ensuing week’s game.

For the Houston Astros, they are going to be a part of an experiment in regards to player mics.

For the Astros’ Apr. 17 game against the Texas Rangers, catcher Martin Maldonado will be mic’d up. Maldonado will be the first catcher to ever be mic’d up for the game.

Astros: Martin Maldonado to be mic’d up for ESPN Sunday Night Baseball

So, Maldonado will be speaking with the commentary team while communicating with starting pitcher Framber Valdez and calling the game. That is going to be quite the feat for Maldonado, as he tries to help the Astros pick up their series win over the Rangers.

This season, the Astros are looking to pick up their third series victory, while also gaining ground on the Rangers and Seattle Mariners, who both have eight wins each heading into Sunday night. Houston currently sits in third-place in the AL West with a 7-8 record.

In the batter’s box, Maldonado has recorded a .219 batting average, a .306 on-base percentage, a .344 slugging percentage, one home run, three RBI, four runs scored, and seven RBI in 10 games played. Behind home plate, Maldonado recorded a .990 fielding percentage (91 putouts on 96 total chances), four assists and one error. Maldonado also caught two players stealing and allowed one passed ball.

For those fans wondering how Maldonado will handle calling the game behind the plate and speaking with the ESPN commentary team, first pitch will be at 7:10 p.m. ET.