Justin Turner was mic’d up for a portion of the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball broadcast of the series finale between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs due to being nominated by the New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor.
The next Sunday Night Baseball telecast on ESPN is a matchup between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. With that, Turner passed the mic’d up baton to Cardinals center fielder Harrison Bader.
Turner and Bader are both clients of Vayner Sports, who represents several athletes in the NFL and MMA, and gaming industry, along with MLB. Vayner Sports additionally works with collegiate athletes in the evolving landscape of the name, image and likeness (NIL) era of NCAA sports.
Turner picked Bader to “keep it in the family” at Vayner Sports, and joked perhaps the broadcast would have the fortune of being in conversation with him during a play in the outfield. Such was the case when Kiké Hernandez detailed what he would do if Anthony Rizzo connected on a base hit.
Along with Hernandez (April 10), Lindor (May 1) and Turner (May 8), Joey Votto (April 7), Ozzie Albies (April 17) and Bryce Harper (April 24) have also been mic’d up for an ESPN broadcast this season.
Justin Turner mic’d up highlights
Turner was the designated hitter in the Dodgers lineup on Sunday night, which eliminated that possibility. He also alerted the booth of removing the ear piece while in the on-deck circle. Turner nevertheless part of an entertaining moment when he discussed Max Muncy inadvertently being struck in the groin by Cubs catcher Willson Conteras.
“It looked like he got grabbed,” said Turner before pausing and deadpanning, “In the junk.”
Turner previously wore a microphone for an ESPN telecast during the 2020 postseason, which Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was not particularly keen on after the fact.
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