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. She is slated to be behind the plate for Sunday’s series finale.
Pawol, a graduate of Hofstra University, called MLB spring training games in 2024, becoming the first female umpire to call MLB spring games since 2007. She has been umpiring in the Triple-A International League since 2023 and was the first woman to umpire the International League championship game.
A native of New Jersey, Pawol, 48, was a three-time Colonial Athletic Association All-Conference softball player while at Hofstra. She began her umpiring career in Rookie ball in 2016 and has steadily climbed the minor-league ranks since then.
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.
