On the first Sunday night of the 2022 Major League Baseball season, ESPN likely hoped that its new alternate Sunday Night Baseball telecast, the Kay-Rod Cast, might produce a viral moment that fans would share across social media into Monday and beyond.

Yet it was the traditional Sunday Night Baseball telecast -- featuring the new team of Karl Ravech, David Cone, and Eduardo Perez -- that produced the "Hey, you gotta see this!" highlight from the Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees match-up.

In the fourth inning with the Red Sox leading 3-1, the Yankees had runners on second and third base with only one out. A base hit by New York's Anthony Rizzo would likely tie the score unless a spectacular defensive play was made. Boston's Enrique Hernandez was anticipating such an opportunity if the ball was hit to him in center field and said so while he was wearing a microphone for the SNB broadcast.

"I'm gonna try... Well, depending on how hard it's hit, if it's hit hard, he's probably not gonna go home. But I don't want Rizzo to advance to second base on a hit, so I gotta keep the ball down, I guess."

Rizzo then smacked the ball into left-center field, forcing Hernandez to make the play he anticipated.

"Here it is," he said as he ran toward the ball. Hernandez fielded it, then made the throw to home, his momentum carrying him into the air as he put his strength into the relay. But Rizzo didn't hit the ball hard enough for Hernandez to have a realistic chance of making a play at home, and both Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Jose Trevino scored for the Yankees to tie the score at 3-3.

Hernandez essentially provided play-by-play before the play, then made the actual play. For all the acclaim Tony Romo gets for predicting play calls while broadcasting the NFL for CBS, we've never seen the quarterback do that as he was executing the play on the field.

We'll probably never see that during a live football telecast. NFL Films mics up plenty of players for game footage, but it doesn't air until being thoroughly edited. Not just to catch not-suitable-for-TV language, but to make sure the audio makes for compelling television. The same applies to the NBA and NHL. The action moves too fast and the players are in each other's faces far too often to create coherent audio safe for all-ages viewing.

Most of the attention MLB has gotten for its new streaming broadcast deals with Apple TV+ and Peacock has been negative to this point. The outlets are new to the viewers, the broadcasting talent is largely new to a national platform. The productions will surely improve as everyone involved, including the audience, settles in and doesn't carry the expectation of something that's never been done before.

At the very least, the Friday Night Baseball streaming broadcasts on Apple TV+ had to look familiar. Sure, there would've been criticism if nothing new had been provided. But show viewers that they'd be watching a baseball game just as if it was on SNY or MASN, and presumably there would have been some relief.

Rather than present something new, perhaps the Apple TV+ telecasts (produced by MLB Network) should have focused on improving something that's already been done. For instance, mic'ing up players in the field. We've seen this on ESPN and Fox baseball broadcasts before to varying degrees of success.

But thanks to Enrique Hernandez on Sunday and Joey Votto last Thursday, ESPN appeared to come up with something fresh and exciting by putting microphones on players in the field for its first two national MLB telecasts of the season.

Votto, in particular, was a revelation. Baseball fans already knew he might be the most interesting man in the game. He's shared his struggles with anxiety, depression, and mental health publicly. Right now, Votto appears to be very comfortable with who he is and he's experiencing a resurgence at an age (38) when most players are in decline or nearing the end of their careers.

ESPN couldn't have chosen a better person to mic up during its debut telecast for the 2022 MLB season. Votto was funny and engaging, joking with Atlanta's Ozzie Albies when he reached first base, explaining his new approach to hitting, and even calling a little bit of play-by-play. And for those who didn't know or may have forgotten, he provided a reminder of how much movement and fast-twitch action is involved in playing first base, which often appears to be the most stationary of the infield positions.

Votto's commentary during the fourth inning was easily the highlight of an eventual 6-3 Reds win over the defending World Series champions on Opening Day. At the very least, it provided viewers with the rare in-game interview -- and on the field -- that was truly enjoyable, insightful, and informative.

How often do fans actually enjoy these intrusions into a game broadcast? For that matter, how often do the players and managers being interviewed enjoy being asked to say something while involved in a game? These diversions are almost always seen as an unnecessary gimmick for TV and add virtually nothing to a broadcast. No one would miss them if they were eliminated.

Well, maybe until now. The bar has been raised.

To be fair, ESPN chose just the right guy in Votto for its season-opening telecast. And Votto shined with the opportunity. If he wants a future in broadcasting, he almost certainly has it. If he's more comfortable being mic'ed up at first base, put a table right near the first-base coach's box. MLB and the teams involved wouldn't mind, right? It's Joey Votto!

And with Hernandez, ESPN had the right guy in the right place at the right time. That's obviously not always going to happen. The next player who gets mic'd up might not get a ball hit to him through that entire inning.

(While we're being fair, asking relatively new broadcasters -- especially on a national stage -- like Melanie Newman and Stephen Nelson to also juggle a mic'd up player with play-by-play duties would have been asking a lot. So Apple TV+ was right not to do so, if producers were ever considering such a move for these debut telecasts.)

But for the first two broadcasts of ESPN's new Sunday Night Baseball team, mic'ing up a player on the field worked wonderfully and legitimately added something insightful and fun to the telecast. It also created the viral moments that baseball needs so badly as it competes for younger viewers on social media and demonstrates that game broadcasts are still worth watching. That could attract new audiences and keep old viewers far more than MLB putting its product on streaming outlets for additional revenue.