I've seen the typical and expected rants and raves online about Jen Pawol's debut as the first woman to umpire a regular season Major League Baseball game, including behind the plate.

She did so last weekend when the Braves beat the Marlins in Atlanta.

Every umpire faces criticism these days, with high-tech examination and posting of every call they make. To be transparent, I have no idea how her calls turned out analytics-wise, and I don’t care what the oft-quoted “everyone” has to say. In the greater context, it is unimportant.

The omnipresent internet version of “everyone” is often comprised of naysayers who assume they have omnipotent baseball knowledge. Yet they wouldn’t be able to tell a ball from a strike, even if the automated ball-strike system lighted it up on the scoreboard f

See Full Page