One day after becoming the first woman to umpire an MLB regular-season game, Jen Pawol was behind home plate for Sunday’s game between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves, making her the first female umpire to call balls and strikes for an MLB game.
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 ever. Unfortunately, Pawol contributed to that discourse with a dubious first strike call.
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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.
Jen Pawol’s opening strike call may have raised some eyebrows. (Image from MLB.com)
(Screen cap from MLB.com Gameday)
Marlins second baseman Xavier Edwards didn’t dispute the call or show much reaction to it. The Braves then called timeout to get the ball to commemorate the occasion for Pawol. However, perhaps sensing where Pawol’s strike zone was situated, Edwards swung at a fastball thrown even further inside and hit it up the middle for a single.
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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.
Marlins manager Clayton McCullough tipped his cap to Pawol for making history.
“I think Jen did a really nice job,” McCullough said, via The Associated Press. “I think she’s very composed back there. She handled and managed the game very well. And big day for her. Big day for Major League Baseball. I congratulated her again on that because it’s quite the accomplishment.”
Pawol made her major-league debut 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…