MLB’s first female umpire set to debut; Jen Pawol to be promoted for Saturday’s Marlins-Braves games

Jen Pawol, a minor-league umpire since 2016, is set to make her major-league debut on Saturday, making her the first female umpire in regular-season MLB history.

Pawol is being called up for the Miami Marlins-Atlanta Braves doubleheader on Saturday, when she will work the bases for those two games. For Sunday’s series finale, she is slated to be behind the plate

Pawol, a graduate of Hofstra University, called MLB spring training games in 2024, becoming the first female umpire to do so since 2007. She was only the third woman to ever umpire a major-league spring training game.

MLB rules require a fifth member to be added to an umpiring crew when there is a doubleheader, as is the case for the Marlins and Braves on Saturday, because each home-plate umpire skips the game they aren’t calling.

Pawol has been umpiring in the Triple-A International League since 2023 and was the first woman to umpire the International League championship game. She was the first woman to umpire a game at that level in 35 years.

In addition to making her MLB spring training debut last season, Pawol became a Triple-A crew chief, another significant step toward reaching the major leagues. Those who have worked with her in the minor leagues predicted she’d one day reach the sport’s upper echelon.

“She’s going to make it,” Jonathan Ortega, who served as Pawol’s crew chief in 2023, told The Athletic’s Brittany Ghiroli last summer. “I don’t know if it will be one year or two years from now, but I think she’s going to do it.”

Ortega called Pawol one of the hardest workers he’s ever seen.

A native of New Jersey, Pawol, 48, was a three-time Colonial Athletic Association All-Conference softball player while at Hofstra, where she was a catcher. After attending Southern Umpires Camp in Atlanta in January 2015, she was noticed by longtime MLB umpire Ted Barrett, who suggested she attend a one-day MLB umpiring camp. Coming out of that camp, Pawol won a scholarship to MLB’s umpire academy. She officially began her umpiring career in the then-Rookie level Gulf Coast League in 2016 and since then has steadily climbed the minor-league ranks.

The NBA had its first female referee debut 28 years ago, while the NFL has had female officials for the past 10 years.

There have been only a handful of female umpires in the minor leagues, and only a few have gotten close to reaching the big leagues. Pam Postema was the first woman to umpire a big-league spring training game in 1989. She spent 13 seasons as a minor-league umpire and six years at Triple-A level but had her contract canceled before getting a chance to umpire a regular-season MLB game.

Ria Cortesio was the second woman to umpire an MLB spring game. But despite being rated the top-ranked umpire in Double-A Southern League, she was let go after nine seasons, with five spent at Double A.

Pawol has said that both Postema and Cortesio have been mentors.

(Photo of Pawol from a spring game in 2024: Rich Storry / Getty Images)