Jen Pawol becomes first female MLB umpire to work home plate, makes questionable first strike call
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With strike zone graphics now a mainstay on MLB broadcasts and resources like MLB Gameday showing balls and strikes in detail, calls by home plate umpires are under more scrutiny than they have ever been. Unfortunately, Pawol contributed to that discourse with a dubious first strike call.
The opening pitch of the game from Braves starter Joey Wentz was inside and out of the zone, but Pawol called the 93 mph fastball a strike.
As Braves play-by-play broadcaster Joe Simpson said, "Joey Wentz likes that first call from Jen Pawol!"
That pitch looked far inside on the TV broadcast and MLB Gameday confirmed that location.
Perhaps sensing where Pawol's strike zone was situated, Marlins second baseman Xavier Edwards hit a fastball thrown even further inside up the middle for a single.
However, Pawol appeared to settle in and find the strike zone better from there, calling that inside pitch to right-handed batters consistently and getting several borderline calls correct. Wentz and Marlins starter Cal Quantrill also helped out by locating most of their pitches in the zone. Through four innings, Wentz threw 44 of his 65 pitches for strikes, while Quantrill threw 29 of 46 in the zone.
Pawol made her major-league debut on Saturday, umpiring the first game of a doubleheader between the Marlins and Braves at first base. She worked the second game of the twin bill at third base. As part of her duties at first base, she checked Braves pitcher Hurston Waldrep for illegal substances after the first inning.
The cap she wore for Saturday's opening game was given to the National Baseball Hall of Fame afterwards.
Prior to her MLB debut, Pawol umpired over 1,200 minor-league games, beginning in 2016. Before being promoted to the majors, Pawol, 48, umpired MLB spring training games during the past two seasons, the first woman to do so since Ria Cortesio in 2007.
She became MLB's first female umpire after the NBA broke that gender barrier with Violet Palmer in 1997. Sarah Thomas was the first female referee to officiate a game in 2015. And in 2022, Stéphanie Frappart became the first woman to referee a men's World Cup game between Germany and Costa Rica.
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