Jen Pawol Is About to Become the First Female Umpire in Major League Baseball History

When the Atlanta Braves face off against the Miami Marlins this weekend, Pawol will become the first woman to umpire in a regular season MLB game

Christian Thorsberg | Daily Correspondent

August 8, 2025

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When Jen Pawol takes the field in Atlanta’s Truist Park this weekend, she will become the first female umpire to officiate a Major League Baseball regular-season game.

The 48-year-old from New Jersey will make her big-league debut on Saturday by working the bases during a doubleheader between the Atlanta Braves and the visiting Miami Marlins. On Sunday, she’ll call balls and strikes from behind home plate.

“Umpiring is for me. It’s in my DNA,” Pawol tells MLB.com’s Elizabeth Muratore. “It’s been a long, hard journey to the top here. But I just love the camaraderie with my crew, with the fellow umpires. I love the travel. I love working out. There’s so many similarities being an athlete and an umpire, and I never have to leave the field when I’m umpiring. I’m just extremely focused on getting my calls right. And I’m so grateful to all those along the way who have helped me become a better umpire every day.”

After a successful college softball career as a catcher at Hofstra University, where she was a three-time all-conference player, Pawol was named to the USA Baseball women’s national team in 2001. When she went back to school to get a master’s degree in painting from Hunter College, she umpired fastpitch softball on the weekends.

She then began taking teacher certification classes, but she didn’t feel fulfilled, report the Associated Press’ Ben Walker and Ronald Blum. Umpiring, she thought, could be the right next step.

Pawol umpired NCAA softball between 2010 and 2016. When she attended an umpire camp in 2015, one of her instructors was MLB umpire Ted Barrett, who encouraged her to participate in an upcoming MLB umpire camp in Cincinnati, according to the Athletic’s Melissa Lockard and Evan Drellich.

Pawol later won a scholarship to attend MLB’s umpire academy, and by 2016 she was working in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League, which is the lowest minor league level affiliated with MLB. During her rookie campaign, she became just the seventh woman ever to umpire in a minor league game.

Over the past ten seasons, Pawol has umpired more than 1,200 games across every minor league affiliate level. She’s made history at nearly every stop, including in 2023, when she became the first female umpire in 34 years to reach Triple-A—the final stop on the climb to MLB—and worked home plate during the league’s championship series. In 2024, she became the first female umpire since 2007, and the third woman ever, to work in an MLB spring training game.

“This is a viable career becoming a professional umpire—men and women, girls and boys,” Pawol told the AP’s Marc Berman in 2024. “I didn’t know that the first several years when I got into umpiring in amateur ball for ten years.”

Thanks to her hard work, Pawol became one of only 17 Triple-A umpires eligible to substitute for a big-league game. But for those who know her, it was only a matter of time until she got the call.

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

The National Basketball Association’s first female referees, Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner, made their regular season debuts during the 1997 season. Meanwhile, Shannon Eastin became the National Football League’s first female official in a regular season game in 2012, according to the AP.

No women have worked as on-ice officials in National Hockey League regular season games. However, the American Hockey League, the NHL’s minor-league affiliate league, recently changed the title of “linesman” to “linesperson” to better represent the female officials who worked in the league last year.

“This historic accomplishment in baseball is a reflection of Jen’s hard work, dedication and love of the game,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred tells MLB.com’s Brian Murphy. “She has earned this opportunity, and we are proud of the strong example she has set, particularly for all the women and young girls who aspire to roles on the field.”

Christian Thorsberg | Read More

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer and photographer from Chicago. His work, which often centers on freshwater issues, climate change and subsistence, has appeared in Circle of Blue, Sierra magazine, Discover magazine and Alaska Sporting Journal.