{"id":685,"date":"2025-04-27T08:47:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T08:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/685\/"},"modified":"2025-04-27T08:47:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T08:47:14","slug":"former-red-sox-jackie-bradley-jr-joins-espn-as-college-baseball-analyst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/685\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Red Sox Jackie Bradley Jr. Joins ESPN as College Baseball Analyst"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Boston Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. is making a return to baseball, not as a player, but as a studio and game analyst for ESPN\u2019s SEC baseball<\/a> coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m honored to join ESPN and can\u2019t wait to get started covering the game that I love,\u201d Bradley Jr. said<\/a>. \u201cCollege baseball has grown a ton since I was at South Carolina, and I hope I can contribute to the sport\u2019s continued growth and popularity through our coverage of the student-athletes who give it their all.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Bradley Jr. helped the Gamecocks win back-to-back College World Series championships in 2010 and 2011, and was named the CWS Most Outstanding Player in 2010. He also earned SEC All-Defensive honors in each of those years and was a second-team All-SEC player in 2010.<\/p>\n

Bradley Jr. ended his three-year tenure in Columbia with 30 home runs, 133 RBIs, a .331 batting average, and 17 stolen bases over 172 games. He did not quite generate those power numbers in the Big Leagues, but was still an integral part of the Red Sox\u2019s 2018 World Series victory.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Boston Red Sox player Jackie Bradley Jr. signs an autograph for Junior WooSox player Colton Amato of Shrewsbury on opening day at Polar Park Friday.Rick Cinclair&sol;Telegram & Gazette &sol; USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

He was named the 2018 American League Championship Series MVP and finished that postseason run with a .835 OPS. However, Bradley Jr. was best known for his stellar defense in center field, which earned him Gold Glove honors that year.<\/p>\n

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A career .225 batter for Boston, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Kansas City Royals, Bradley Jr. had his best years for the Red Sox. His lone all-star nod in 2016 saw him record career-highs in just about every major statistical category, headlined by a 26-home run, 87-RBIs, .267 batting, and .835 OPS campaign.<\/p>\n

His 11-year MLB career and storied time at South Carolina make him an excellent candidate for the analyst job, and he should provide fans with a wealth of knowledge and experience.<\/p>\n

There are not many ballplayers who can claim both college and MLB titles, and that pedigree should enhance ESPN\u2019s college baseball coverage.<\/p>\n

Related: Red Sox Predicted to Part Ways With $90M Bust Amid Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer Decisions<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Red Sox Starter Makes Announcement on Season Debut<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Boston Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. is making a return to baseball, not as a player,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,48,650,648,649,647,55,59,4,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-boston-red-sox","10":"tag-bradley-jr","11":"tag-college-baseball","12":"tag-espn","13":"tag-jackie-bradley-jr","14":"tag-kansas-city-royals","15":"tag-milwaukee-brewers","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-toronto-blue-jays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114409061995521827","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}