Orestes Destrade

ESPN Radio's SportsNation Co-Host; Baseball Analyst

Orestes Destrade joined ESPN in August 2005 and currently serves as a season-long contributor to Baseball Tonight. He also serves as co-host of ESPN Radio’s SportsNation (4-6:30 p.m. ET M-F), which debuted October 23, 2007 and ties into ESPN.com’s “SportsNation” page, the site where sports fans discuss the day’s issues and vote on topical polls.

Destrade, born in Santiago, Cuba, and fluent in three languages (English, Spanish and Japanese), also serves as an analyst during ESPN’s coverage of the Little League World Series and MLB broadcasts on ESPN Radio. In 2006, Destrade also contributed to ESPN’s coverage of the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

Destrade played four seasons in the Major Leagues as a member of the New York Yankees (1987), Pittsburgh Pirates (1988) and Florida Marlins (1993-94). He enjoyed his best season in 1993 as a Marlin (their first year as an expansion franchise), with 20 home runs and 87 runs batted in.

From 1990-92, Destrade played professionally in Japan for the Seibu Lions, becoming the only foreign-born player to lead that country in home runs three straight years – 1990 (42 home runs, 106 RBI); 1991 (39, 92); and 1992 (41, 87). He retired in 1995 due to a back injury.

As ESPN Radio’s SportsNation co-host with John Seibel, Destrade “chats” with listeners who help format each afternoon’s program by opining on the day’s hot topics, while the daily SportsNation on ESPN Radio poll on the ESPN.com “SportsNation” page is updated and discussed along with other poll results and fan feedback on the page.

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