Watch: Another routine play botched during in-game baseball interview

ESPN and Apple TV have started the trend of interviewing Major League Baseball players during live game action and it is producing some really awkward moments in the field. Specifically when the player being interviewed is part of an error or a botched routine play.

It happened again during Friday's showdown between the Houston Astros and New York Mets.

As Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena was being interviewed by the Apple TV broadcast crew, he and third baseman Alex Bregman had something of a miscommunication on a routine pop-up on the infield that harmlessly fell between both players.

That sort of play is as routine as it gets and it is difficult to imagine that the interview did not have something to do with it in distracting Pena.

It was also not the first time something like this  has happened during the 2024 campaign.

Earlier this month Dodgers third basemen Enrique Hernandez committed an error on a ground ball during another interview.

While it is interesting to have an opportunity to hear players during a game, they are also trying to compete and do their jobs and at the major league level they probably do not want (or need) distractions like this happening out in the field.

It is difficult enough to play at that level without having to do a live interview during the game. The television networks and the league ultimately have the final say on it, but if things like this keep happening players and teams are going to start eventually pushing back on it.