Photo: Marc Serota
Former Boston Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis is expected to serve as the primary color analyst on the team's game broadcasts for NESN during the 2023 season, sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to MassLive.com's Chris Cotillo.
NESN is also expected to have a rotating cast of former players serving as analysts including "Will Middlebrooks, Kevin Millar and possibly Tim Wakefield and others circling through," sources confirmed to Cotillo.
Youkilis had previously contributed as a color commentator during several Red Sox games alongside play-by-play announcer Dave O'Brien -- who he will now join full-time -- and worked as a studio analyst for NESN in 2021.
The 43-year-old was a member of the Red Sox's 2007 World Series team, a three-time All-Star, a Gold Glove Award winner (2007) and the 2008 American League Hank Aaron Award winner during his nine seasons in Boston, having later been elected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2018.
The addition of Youkilis full-time comes after the recent retirement of Baseball Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley, who had contributed to NESN's broadcasts since 2003.
Eckersley, 67, told the Boston Globe that he'd mulled retirement for a long time, but said he ultimately decided he wants to move back to the Bay Area to be closer to his grandchildren during their formative years.
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