Jared Boshnack is a true YES man!

Jared Boshnack paid his dues to get where he is today, not only as a longtime YES Network employee, but as a Yankees fan.

In his early teens, he was a Newsday paper boy, delivering back pages that often featured the mid-1980s Mets to his neighbors in Bayside, Queens.

“I was a Yankee fan in Queens, in a Mets neighborhood, where the debates were [about Don] Mattingly and [Keith] Hernandez,” he said.

“I absolutely understand the Yankees, the sensitivities to having great coverage, for having the best people in place at all times.”

Boshnack, a 31-time Emmy Award winner, has worked for YES since its inception in 2002, originally as graphics coordinator.

In February, he completed a long rise to the top of the production and programming ladder when he was named executive producer and vice president of production.

John Filippelli, who led the network’s production and programming from the beginning, moved into an advisory role.

“Jared has excelled in every aspect of production during his long tenure at YES while working alongside ‘Flip,’ ” YES Network president Jon Litner said at the time, adding Boshnack had played an “an instrumental role” in YES history.

The ensuing few months have been “bit of a whirlwind,” Boshnack said, even with his experience at YES and the preparation he got from Filippelli, Litner and others.

Boshnack, 52, has lived in Great Neck for two decades and spent part of his childhood in Port Washington and part of his young adulthood in Jericho.

But he was born in Bayside and those teenaged years there were “formative,” he said, in more ways than one.

“My father took me to my first Yankee game when I was 6 years old, and being at the stadium, seeing the grass, seeing the ballpark in the Bronx, it changed me and locked me in,” he said.

“And then growing up around Mets fans, it just became that much easier to be the kid with dissenting opinions.”

Boshnack, a Queens College alumnus, worked at CBS and ABC before joining YES Network in 2002. His goal in his new role is to maintain YES’ standards while adding his own touches and continuing to innovate.

One example: On June 6, YES, for the first time, used a drone camera in its coverage of a Red Sox-Yankees game, something it plans to do again this season.

The project required extensive planning and coordination with multiple entities, including MLB, New York City and the FAA.

“Getting to the finish line, and then seeing how majestic the Bronx looked from that vantage point, it was incredible,” Boshnack said.

YES has been criticized for years in some quarters for using a rotating cast of Yankees game analysts, rather than sticking to a consistent booth. The new boss does not seem inclined to change that.

“We have an incredibly deep bench,” he said, adding that he thinks of it as “an ensemble.”

“It's putting together the best cast possible. We have incredible people in [David] Cone and [Paul] O’Neill and many others that just are outstanding, day in and day out.”

YES also has a highly respected Nets' coverage team, led by play-by-play man Ian Eagle and analyst Sarah Kustok. “We’re very, very fortunate,” Boshnack said.

The more one speaks to Boshnack, the more it becomes clear he is a true believer in YES, a lifer proud of where he works and of his colleagues, and now charged with keeping it that way.

“When I look at our broadcasts, they're national [quality] broadcasts,” he said. “We want to, every single night, build upon our success that we've had from Day One and continue that as we move forward.

“That’s our approach, and the group feels that way, and they're proud of it.”

Boshnack called Filippelli a “legend” who helped prepare him for this moment.

“I had so many conversations with him, like multiple times a day for years, that I hear him,” Boshnack said. “I hear things that he has said to me and preached to me and what's important to him.

“I've been able to take that and make that part of my own philosophical approach, and then trying to also, around that, work in things that are important to me when they come up.”

Nothing prepared him for this quite like Queens and Long Island did. (His wife, Amy, also is from Bayside, by the way.)

“The pulse of New York is unlike anything else,” he said. “It’s a vibrant baseball town. Always has been, always will be. It is helpful to know the passion that the fan base has. It pushes you every single day to make sure that you're covering it right.

“We know that the passion that's there is incredible, and because of that passion it helps to be passionate, too.”

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.