It’s taken nearly 150 years, but a female umpire has finally made her debut in Major League Baseball. On August 9, 2025, Jennifer (Jen) Pawol took up her post near first base, becoming the first woman to umpire in a regular season MLB game.
A standout in soccer and softball since high school, Pawol, 48, has umpired softball games since her college days. She was a catcher on the Hofstra University softball team and played in Amateur Softball Association tournaments at the Major Fast Pitch level. In 2001, Pawol helped the U.S. secure a gold medal in the inaugural Women’s Baseball World Series.
Pawol, who holds Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees, worked as an art teacher alongside college softball umpiring before deciding to become a professional baseball umpire in 2016. After completing two intensive minor league training courses, she began umpiring in the Gulf Coast League. By 2023, she was umpiring at the Triple-A level (the highest in the minors) for the International League and the Pacific Coast League—the first woman to umpire at that level in 34 years.
Her rise to the majors began in earnest in 2024, when she umpired in spring training, following in the footsteps of former umpires Pam Postema and Ria Cortesio. Perhaps even more notably, she made it to the MLB call-up list for the 2024 season but ultimately was never needed to substitute for a full-time umpire, despite her 1,200 games of minor league experience.
That changed this year, when a doubleheader on the schedule led to Pawol being called up to make her debut in a Major League Baseball game. On August 9, 2025, she became the first woman to umpire at that level during the regular season, as the first base umpire during a game between the Miami Marlins and the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park in Atlanta. The following day, she took on home plate duties when the two teams met again, acquitting herself admirably with a ball and strike accuracy rating of 93%, equivalent to many of her full-time peers.
Play ball!
- Many have pointed out that Major League Baseball is somewhat behind the times in debuting a female umpire in 2025. The first female referees took to the court in the NBA in 1997, and the NFL welcomed Sarah Thomas, the league’s first full-time female official, in 2015. In 2022, Stéphanie Frappart, Neuza Back, and Karen Diaz became the first all-female refereeing team in FIFA history at the men’s World Cup in Qatar.
- According to Umpire Scorecards, which simulates every pitch hundreds of times, Pawol called 140 out of 151 pitches correctly when behind the plate on August 10. She “favored” the Marlins by 0.28 runs—which clearly did not impact the final scoreline, as the Braves won 7-1.
- Pawol is presumably on the short list for a position on the full-time MLB umpiring roster but will need to wait until a current umpire departs to be considered for the promotion.
