It was another early summer baseball game last year at Chicago’s “friendly confines,” and in my expert opinion, the Cubs center fielder Dexter Fowler was playing too shallow. The newfangled analytics backed up my conclusion, and I could also draw on my playing days: having stood in the outfield in Wrigley Field, knowing the numbers can lie to you, especially given Wrigley’s unpredictable ricochets, ivy-covered entanglements and temperamental weather extremes.

My color-analyst colleague in the ESPN booth, Rick Sutcliffe, knew I was going to “go there.” Get on a rant about Wrigley’s challenges and Fowler’s depth, tapping into my major-league history of playing center field. Rick could set it up with his Cy Young Award-recipient pitching pedigree. We ran with it for an entire inning.

Jessica Mendoza, the ESPN baseball analyst, does not have the advantage of being able to start any sentence with, “When I played for the Chicago Cubs.” True, she is an Olympic gold and silver medalist in softball; a trusted insider, according to colleagues, M.L.B. players and staff; and a diligent, inquisitive and passionate commentator.

She is also — even though some data suggests that 45 percent of baseball fans are women — ESPN’s first and only female M.L.B. analyst. Today, the vast majority of color commentators are either former Major League Baseball players or had direct major-league experience.