Umpire Jen Pawol 1st Woman to Be Assigned MLB Spring Training Games Since 2007

Major League Baseball announced Monday that umpire Jen Pawol will be assigned to Major League Spring Training games ahead of the 2024 season, making her the first woman to be given that role since 2007.

She's aiming to become the first female umpire in an MLB regular-season game.

"I'm super excited," Pawol told Julia Kreuz of MLB.com. "I've been working hard in the offseason, training right out of the Fall League to get ready for spring training. Really, the only thing that matters is that I get the next play right. And then I gotta get the next play right after that. And any time we take our eye off of that, it's just not real healthy."

Pawol, who has eight years of experience in the minor leagues, could be in line for a potential call-up this season. Major League Baseball has a Call-Up list comprised of Triple-A umps who have received an invitation to spring training, which it pulls from when it needs a replacement umpire or additional umpires during the year.

"Right now, it's at the point in the major leagues, people don't care race, creed, color, religion, belief," former MLB umpire Ted Barrett told the Associated Press. "If you can umpire, you can umpire, and if you can't, you can't. The concern of the guys coming up is, 'Can she umpire?' If she can, she'll be accepted and bought in. If she can't, you got to get her out of there and get somebody else who can."

Only six women had ever umpired in the minor leagues before Pawol hit the scene: Bernice Gera (1972), Christine Wren (1975-77), Pam Postema (1977-89), Theresa Cox Fairlady (1989-91), Ria Cortesio (1999-2007) and Shanna Kook (2003-04).

Only Postema and Pawol have made it to Triple-A, while only Postema, Cortesio and now Pawol have reached spring training. Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic noted that Pawol is "friends with both women and has cited Postema, who wrote a tell-all book on her experiences, as a mentor."

"The women who came before me, they moved some big boulders to make it easier for women to come through," Pawol told Kreuz. "And I'm just so grateful for what I get to do for a living. I love it."

Nine women are currently scheduled to umpire in the minor leagues this season as the sport continues to diversify its ranks.

"I believe all the sports are making an effort [to diversify their game]," Pawol told Kreuz. "The momentum is now shifted to really cultivate and attract women and minorities—boys and girls, men and women—into officiating across all the sports. It's just a super exciting time for our profession in general, at all levels."