The Angels have found their new play-by-play voice. Victor Rojas announced on January 8th his plans to leave the Fox Sports West booth for the Frisco RoughRiders front office. Thursday, the Angels announced that ESPN Sunday Night Baseball’s Matt Vasgersian would be filling that role. Also, Daron Sutton will be rejoining the Angels broadcast booth as a secondary announcer while Vasgersian continues his ESPN arrangement.
Path to Anaheim
Vasgersian follows Rojas’s path from MLB Network anchor to the Angels’ television voice 11 years after his predecessor. Both were behind the desk together in New York when the network launched in 2009. Vasgersian teams up with Rojas’s former sidekick Mark Gubicza to document Mike Trout and company’s pursuit of a division title.
The 53-year-old’s voice is familiar to Southern California baseball fans as the voice of the San Diego Padres 2002-2008. Before that, he was the Milwaukee Brewers voice 1997-2001 and the original Fox season of XFL football. He’s been the voice of every installment of MLB: The Show video game since its inception in 2006.
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The University of Southern California graduate has been co-hosting or regular guest on MLB Central morning show since 2015. As recent as last week, co-host Harold Reynolds mentioned, “you must have loved listening to Vin Scully in California?” To which Vasgersian replied, “I was more of an Al Conin on KMPC kind of guy.” Referring to the Angels’ voice during the 1980s and hinting to his former fandom or potential career change.
Daron Sutton Joins the Team
Since Vasgersian is going to continue to lead the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball broadcast team, the Angels named a secondary commentator. While he’s away covering those national games with Alex Rodriguez and Jessica Mendoza, the Angels have hired a secondary voice. They are bringing back Daron Sutton to co-host games with Gubicza in the absence of their new lead play-by-play man.
The son of the recently departed Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton was the radio voice for Angels 2000-2001. He also pitched in the minors for the Angels briefly before beginning his broadcasting career in the early ’90s. Sutton’s career as a broadcaster has included stints with the Braves and Diamondbacks since 1997.
Both are sure to discuss Angels’ nostalgia during their 2021 broadcasts as the Angels celebrate their 60th season. A year in which Los Angeles is hoping Trout, Anthony Rendon, Shohei Ohtani, and others will go the distance.
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