With the 2021 Major League Baseball regular season just a few weeks away, the Los Angeles Angels finalized its team of broadcasters, announcing Matt Vasgersian as their new play-by-play voice.
The 53-year-old, California native has been a baseball announcer for three decades, having previous tenures with the Brewers and Padres in addition to his national work. Now joining the Angels, Vasgersian will partner with incumbent analyst Mark Gubicza, along with the addition of Jose Mota to create a three-person booth on FOX Sports West. Mota was previously the Angels pre and postgame host.
Vasgersian fills the void left by the team’s longtime TV play-by-play voice Victor Rojas who announced his departure from the booth earlier this year. Rojas served as the Angels TV voice for the last 11 seasons, but he parted ways with the organization to spend more time with his family in Texas, where he also landed a job as the president and general manager of the Frisco Roughriders, the Rangers AA affiliate.
In 2018, Vasgersian was named the play-by-play voice for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, a role he’ll continue alongside Alex Rodriguez. Vasgersian will also continue his studio work for MLB Network, creating a very busy schedule during the baseball season.
Because of his trio of jobs, Vasgersian plans to work most of the games remotely. And according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, Vasgersian’s busy schedule might keep him from calling the majority of Angels games this season, despite being considered their lead play-by-play voice. In addition to hiring Vasgersian, the Angels also announced the hire of play-by-play broadcaster Daron Sutton, the son of late hall-of-famer Don Sutton.
Sutton previously called Angels games on the radio, having also worked as a TV play-by-play voice for the Diamondbacks and Brewers.