| José Mota | |
|---|---|
 Mota in 2011. | |
| Second baseman | |
| Born: (1965-03-16)March 16, 1965 (age 60) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | |
Batted: Both Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| May 25, 1991, for the San Diego Padres | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| June 2, 1995, for the Kansas City Royals | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .211 |
| Hits | 8 |
| Runs batted in | 2 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
José Manuel Mota Matos (born March 16, 1965) is a Dominican-American baseball broadcaster. He currently covers theLos Angeles Dodgers onSpectrum SportsNet LA. He formerly covered theLos Angeles Angels withBally Sports West from 2002 until his departure in 2022. He began on the Angels Spanish broadcast in 2002 and took on various roles on the English television broadcast starting in 2007. He worked alongsideAmaury Pi-Gonzalez in the broadcast booth in Spanish and alongsideMark Gubicza in English. Fully bilingual, he conducts postgame interviews and often doubles as the translator for Spanish-speaking players. He served as a pre-and-postgame analyst onAngels Live and occasionally filled in as a backup play-by-play announcer for English broadcasts. He is the son of former baseball player and long-timeDodgers coachManny Mota.
Mota attendedCal State Fullerton inOrange County on abaseballscholarship. He was drafted in the second round of the1985 amateur draft by theChicago White Sox. He spent time in theTexas Rangers andLos Angeles Dodgers organizations before being drafted by theOakland Athletics in1988 with therule 5 draft. He was then sent to theSan Diego Padres in1989 in a three-team trade and made his major league debut in1991 with the Padres. He later signed with theKansas City Royals as a free agent, but only appeared in two games in1995.
In 19 games, Mota had 8 hits in 38 at-bats, resulting in a .211 batting average. He scored four runs and drove in two more.
Following his playing career, Mota sought to work in baseball broadcasting. He was mentored byStu Nahan,Jim Hill, andFred Roggin, among others. Mota's first major broadcast job was a brief fill-in stint forJaime Jarrín on theLos Angeles Dodgers Spanish broadcast.[1]
Mota worked on the Angels' Spanish-language radio broadcasts beginning in2002. With the team adding 50 games to their English-language television package in2007, Mota added those games to his workload.
Mota has previous television experience as a sideline reporter, and he also filled in forRex Hudler during his suspension in 2003. He also was a third announcer in the team'sover-the-air television booth in 2004 and 2005.
Soon after the conclusion of the 2007 season, the Angels announced that Mota would no longer work as the play-by-play announcer for television games broadcast in English as he had done during that season. His place was taken byRory Markas, who doubled as the radio play-by-play announcer for the Angels until Markas's death on January 4, 2010.Victor Rojas would take Markas's spot. Along with partnerMark Gubicza, he would cover roughly 75 games for the Angels.
During the first half of the 2021 season, Mota occasionally filled in as the English play-by-play announcer when the primary commentators,Matt Vasgersian andDaron Sutton, were unavailable due to other broadcast obligations.[2] After Sutton was replaced mid-season byRich Waltz,Patrick O'Neal took over Mota's de facto "third-string" play-by-play broadcasting role, filling in when Vasgersian was broadcasting with ESPN or MLB Network and when Waltz was broadcasting with CBS Sports. Mota returned to his more typical roles ofAngels Live analysis and field-level reporting in the second half of the 2021 season.
On February 3, 2022, Mota announced on Instagram that he decided to depart Bally Sports West. He expressed his gratitude for the Angels organization and said he felt it was time for a "new chapter" but did not immediately announce his future plans.[3]
Mota worked forFOX on their coverage of the2006 Major League Baseball postseason afterSteve Lyons was removed from the broadcast for perceived racially insensitive remarks.
In March 2022, it was announced that Mota would join theSpectrum SportsNet LA broadcast team to cover theLos Angeles Dodgers. He was among a group of newcomers to the network that includedJessica Mendoza,Adrián González,Eric Karros, andDontrelle Willis.[4]
Mota has also handled several Spanish language assignments in both baseball and football forFox Sports. Mota also did English language coverage of the2009 Caribbean Series withFlorida Marlins broadcasterCookie Rojas, the father of eventual Angels broadcaster Victor Rojas, onMLB Network.
Mota made one film appearance, in the1999Kevin Costner filmFor Love of the Game as a Dominicanshortstop.
Mota's father,Manny, was an MLB player who also spent over three decades with the Dodgers as a coach. Because of his father's involvement with the Dodgers, Mota grew up around the team's clubhouse and served as a batboy. His brother,Andy, played for theHouston Astros and now works as a player agent.[1] His cousin,José Báez, played for theSeattle Mariners.
· Baseball Almanac