Jennifer Pawol (born c. 1976 or 1977) is an American baseball umpire who currently works in Minor League Baseball. She is just the seventh woman to work as a professional baseball umpire.[1]
Before going into professional umpiring, Pawol was an art teacher. She is a graduate of the Pratt Institute (B.F.A.) and Hunter College (M.F.A.). During this time, she continued to umpire part-time in amateur softball leagues.[3]
Umpiring career
After umpiring softball games part-time for 11 years, Pawol decided to go into umpiring full-time. In 2016, she attended the Minor League Baseball Umpire Training Academy in Vero Beach, Florida. Her performance at the academy led to a spot in the MiLB Advanced Course which she completed in 2017. That same year, she began her professional baseball career in the Gulf Coast League.[4]
In 2024, Pawol became only the third woman to umpire in spring training, after Pam Postema and Ria Cortesio.[6] She was the third base umpire during a game between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals.[7] She will act as a crew chief in Triple-A during the 2024 baseball season.[8] In March, it was reported that Pawol was placed on MLB's call-up list for the 2024 season, meaning that she could be called up to the majors in the event a full-time Major League umpire is not available.[9]
^Heaphy, Leslie. "Professional Woman Umpires". Society for American Baseball Research. She played soccer and softball at West Milford High School (New Jersey) before getting a scholarship to play at Hofstra from 1995-1998. Pawol earned All-American honors as a catcher, hitting .332 with 102 RBIs. She umpired for fast-pitch softball as well as being an NCAA Division I postseason umpire. She also umpired in the Big Ten Conference from 2013 to 2015.
^Heaphy, Leslie. "Professional Woman Umpires". Society for American Baseball Research. Pawol is also an artist. She earned her BFA from the Pratt Institute and then an MFA from Hunter College. When she was not umpiring in previous years she also worked part-time as an eighth grade art teacher.
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