Female ump works game in spring training
It took eight years but Jen Pawol made the leap from the minors to a major league spring training game as an umpire at the Grapefruit League opener between the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals at CACTI Park of The Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Fla. on Saturday.
Pawol's spring training debut marked the first time since 2007 that a woman umpired a major league spring training game, last done by Ria Cortesio. With a ponytail coming out of her ballcap, Pawol was stationed at third base.
After the traditional pregame meeting with the umpires and managers at home plate, the group posed for pictures. Nationals manager Dave Martinez shook Pawol's hand and chatted with her briefly.
Eight years ago, Pawol, a former New Jersey high school softball star who played at Hofstra, became just the seventh woman to umpire a minor league baseball game.
Across the next few weeks, Pawol, 47, will be based in Palm Beach County to work other spring training games. No woman has ever been assigned to umpire a regular season game in the majors.
Pawol's only play in the top of the first inning was signaling an infield-fly rule on a pop-up by Astros' Jon Singleton. In the top of the fourth inning, Pawol moved to second base. She went to first base in the seventh inning.
BURNES SHARP IN DEBUT >> Corbin Burnes' first outing with his new team looked like an abbreviated version of a typical performance with his old one.
Burnes worked one scoreless inning for the Baltimore Orioles and struck out the first two batters he faced Saturday in the 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner's Grapefruit League debut. The Orioles went on to defeat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 on a walk-off homer from prospect Colton Cowser.
The Orioles acquired Burnes last month in a trade that sent left-hander DL Hall, infielder Joey Ortiz and a 2024 competitive balance pick to the Milwaukee Brewers.
“Today was just getting the feet wet, getting out there on the mound, feel the adrenaline going again in a game situation and then get to work with Adley a little bit,” Burnes said of catcher Adley Rutschman.
Burnes, 29, went 45-27 with a 3.26 ERA in six seasons with the Brewers. He went 10-8 last year with a 3.39 ERA, which marked the first time since 2019 that he posted an ERA above 3.00.
He has recorded at least 200 strikeouts each of the last three seasons, including an National Leagueleading 243 in 2022.
The Brewers traded Burnes because of the likelihood they wouldn't be able to keep him beyond this season. The three-time All-Star is eligible for free agency at the end of the season.
METS' FUJINAMI LEAVES CAMP >> New York Mets right-hander Shintaro Fujinami left camp temporarily to return home to Japan to deal with a personal matter.
Fujinami, who turns 30 on April 12, went 7-8 with a 7.18 ERA in 57 relief appearances and seven starts with the A's and Baltimore last season. He struck out 83 and walked 45 in 79 innings.
KEMP SIGNS WITH REDS >> The Cincinnati Reds agreed to minor league contract with utilityman Tony Kemp, who was invited to big league camp.
Kemp, 32, hit .209 with a .303 on-base percentage, five homers, 27 RBIs and 15 steals in 124 games with the A's last season, his eighth in the major leagues and fourth with Oakland.
CONTROLLING THE BASE PATHS >> As he should on Opening Day, Logan Webb got the nod on the first day of Cactus League play.
Allowing two runs over two innings, the Giants' ace got a taste of his No. 1 objective this spring.
After Mike Tauchman led off the game with a single to left, he was immediately erased when Webb induced a comebacker from the next batter, which he fired to Thairo Estrada to start a 1-4-3 double play, and was out of the inning after three batters and eight pitches.
In the second, he had runners on the corners and one out when Miles Mastrobuoni took off from first base. He easily swiped second, putting himself in scoring position, and on a single from Brennen Davis two batters later became the second run to score off Webb.
“It's something I've been trying to get better at,” Webb said of holding baserunners.
“I think my times were a little quicker today.”
No pitcher induced a larger percentage of contact on the ground last season than Webb, while only two rated out worse — according to a metric developed by Statcast — at keeping the running game in check. Runners took an average lead of 5.6 feet, the third-largest of any pitcher in the majors.
And therein lies the importance: Keeping more runners at first base means more double-play opportunities for Webb.
“He understands with his ground-ball rates, if we can keep guys on first base more, it gives us an opportunity for more double plays and to be even more economical with his pitches,” Melvin said. “He's kind of a rare guy.”
While Webb wasn't in top form, allowing three hits and hitting a batter, he was around the strike zone and left healthy, which is all he can ask for from the first game action of spring training. After a quick first, he labored through 25 pitches in the second, but finished with 21 of his 35 total pitches in the strike zone.
After Davis' two-run single, when left fielder Michael Conforto's throw scooted past Patrick Bailey, new pitching coach Bryan Price made his first mound visit.
“The first thing I said was my bad, I did a (poor) job at backing up the base on that throw,” Webb said. “He said he was going to tell me that afterward.”
Kyle Harrison is slated to start today's game against the Rangers, and Webb, his offseason training partner, said, “You'll see it tomorrow: Kyle's probably more ready than anybody here.” SIXTY-NINE'S A CROWD >> When Webb entered the dugout for his customary handshake line before first pitch, he didn't know where to start.
The first-base dugout was lined three deep at times with players in orange jerseys and ballcaps as seemingly every member of big league camp — and a few minor leaguers over from Papago for insurance — accepted the invitations to stay for the first game.
“There were a million guys in the bullpen when I was warming up. That was fun,” Webb said. “I shook a couple guys' hands and said all right, group hands. And walked out. But it was cool to see.”
Melvin has encouraged unity this camp, with all 69 players in camp dressing in the same clubhouse.
But in a little spring training dugout, it makes for pretty cramped quarters.
“It's good that everybody wanted to be out there,” Melvin said. “I'm not sure we'll have 60-plus guys in the dugout every game. But it was pretty cool.” NOTABLE >> — Outfielder Heliot Ramos left the game in the fifth inning after being hit in the right knee by an 83-mph breaking ball, but Melvin said he was already doing better and had him penciled into today's lineup against the Rangers.
It took until Luis Matos ripped a line-drive single into left field with one out in the third inning for the Giants to record their first hit of the spring, and they didn't muster a run until their final trip to the plate. Yoshi Tsutsugo delivered their first RBI knock, driving in two runs with a single through the right side with two outs in the ninth. Otto Lopez later smacked a two-run home run in the inning.