Clemons, Jiménez, MacKay, Merzel, Tomlinson Hired; Emmel, Layne, Vanover Retired

Major League Baseball hired umpires Paul Clemons, Emil Jiménez, Alex MacKay, Dan Merzel, and Nate Tomlinson to its full-time staff after Paul Emmel, Jerry Layne, and Larry Vanover joined Angel Hernandez in retirement following the 2024 MLB season. Vic Carapazza, Doug Eddings, and Andy Fletcher were promoted to Crew Chiefs to replace the three retiring chiefs.

New Hires

Paul Clemons joins MLBU at the age of 34 after 14 years in Minor League Baseball, joining MiLB in 2011, and working 249 major league games on his way to joining the full-time staff.

Emil Jiménez earns a full-time slot after 10 years of minor league ball, joining the Gulf Coast League as a rookie in 2015. He brings 246 games of MLB experience with him to the permanent roster.

Alex MacKay first joined the minor leagues in 2012 and joins MLB 13 years and 262 major league games as a call-up later.

Dan Merzel is the most experienced of the new-hire class, having worked 452 major league games prior to his hiring. He first worked a minor league game in 2011.

Nate Tomlinson rounds out the list of hires, with 303 games of major league experience and has been in professional baseball's minor leagues since 2011.

Retirements

Paul Emmel retires from MLB after 25 years of service time, having been a crew chief since 2017. Emmel did not work in 2024 due to medical leave.

Jerry Layne's 36 years of service time (since 1989) placed him as the senior-most member of the MLB staff over the past few seasons, ever since Joe West retired in 2022. Layne also did not work on the field in 2024, but did work periodically in the replay room last season. He retires as a crew chief.

Larry Vanover retires after 32 years of MLB experience, but unlike Emmel and Layne did work on the field in 2024. Vanover's retirement as a crew chief means three chief spots need to be filled, meaning that...

Promotions to Crew Chief

Vic Carapazza has been promoted to crew chief after 14 years on the full-time MLB staff,

Doug Eddings is a new crew chief after 26 years on staff, and

Andy Fletcher is a new crew chief after 25.5 years on the MLB staff.

Umpire Angel Hernandez Retires After 33 Years of MLB

Longtime MLB umpire Angel Hernandez confirmed he is retiring, telling USA Today he wants to spend more time with his family. The 62-year-old umpire who began his big league career in the National League 33 years ago, in May 1991, winds down his eventful major league on-field experience with over 3,800 regular season games worked, 12 Division Series, eight League Championship Series, and two World Series.

Hernandez drew national ire in 2013 when, as acting crew chief, his crew reviewed and ultimately upheld an Oakland Athletics double off the high left field wall in Cleveland. Although replays indicate the batted ball hit a railing beyond the wall and caromed back into the field—MLB stated it should have been a home run—and A's manager Bob Melvin was ejected arguing that point, we would come to find out that the replay angles the crew had access to on the circa-2013 in-stadium "limited replay" monitor, which was a small screen by today's standards were inconclusive, according to MLB's Terence Moore, who wrote, "I agree with the umpires."

Nonetheless, the national spectacle that followed resulted in the modern Replay Operations Center headquarters in New York we see today, a $30 million project that doesn't include the annual $2+ million salaries of the two additional umpire crews that staff it, added to the then-68 full-time MLB umpires for a modern-day roster of 76 (not including the costs of non-umpire Replay HQ staff).

Hernandez changed baseball in a different way in 2017, filing a lawsuit against the league in which he alleged racially-motivated and national origin-motivated discrimination.

Although this opened Hernandez up to further ridicule—such a reporters facetiously adding accents to the letters "á" in his name despite its spelling never containing accents before, a practice that continues to this day (seriously, look at the MLB Umpire Media Guide where umpires who want accents in their names [such as Alfonso Márquez] have them there, Hernandez is unaccented in all legal proceedings, etc.)—his lawsuit opened the door for other umpires who may have avoided baseball due to an undoubtedly discriminatory past. 

And although Hernandez lost his suit and appeal, uncovering potential problems in baseball spurred the sport to change how it conducts business to include more umpires in its community, as well as perhaps inspired other umpires to speak out against discriminatory practices (note: we have yet to discuss a 2024 discrimination suit recently filed by an umpire who worked in the minor leagues).

After an eventful career, Hernandez walks away from baseball having fundamentally made his mark.

Video as follows:

2024 MLB Umpire Crew List & Roster

MLB quietly posted its 2024 umpire crew list on its website, albeit marked "CONFIDENTIAL"... though the crews are posted publicly via Official Information => Umpires = > Crews. In any case, crew chief Jerry Layne returns as baseball's most experienced umpire in the major leagues, with a new crew for recently-promoted chief Chris Guccione and new-hires Clint Vondrak and Ryan Wills slotted into the mix. Here are the 2024 crews:

2024 MLB Umpire Crews

#	Crew Chief	Umpire 2	Umpire 3	Umpire 4
A	50 Emmel, Paul	49 Fletcher, Andy	76 Muchlinski, Mike	52 Visconti, Jansen
B	2 Bellino, Dan	10 Cuzzi, Phil	11 Randazzo, Tony	66 Tosi, Alex
C	26 Miller, Bill	88 Eddings, Doug	62 Whitson, Chad	44 Moore, Malachi
D	64 Porter, Alan	28 Wolf, Jim	36 Blakney, Ryan	29 Barber, Sean
E	13 Tichenor, Todd	89 Blaser, Cory	79 Gonzalez, Manny	33 Ceja, Nestor
F	80 Johnson, Adrian	81 Wolcott, Quinn	18 De Jesus, Ramon	25 Valentine, Junior
G	72 Marquez, Alfonso	16 Barrett, Lance	90 Ripperger, Mark	40 Ortiz, Roberto
H	63 Diaz, Laz	73 Gibson, Tripp	83 Estabrook, Mike	12 Bacchus, Erich
I	51 Hudson, Marvin	21 Wendelstedt, Hunter	74 Tumpane, John	48 Mahrley, Nick
J	14 Wegner, Mark	1 Dreckman, Bruce	35 Rehak, Jeremie	15 Vondrak, Clint
K	46 Kulpa, Ron	4 Fairchild, Chad	37 Torres, Carlos	20 Wills, Ryan
L	24 Layne, Jerry	19 Carapazza, Vic	78 Hamari, Adam	32 Moscoso, Edwin
M	27 Vanover, Larry	86 Rackley, David	96 Segal, Chris	TBD*
N	98 Conroy, Chris	7 O'Nora, Brian	31 Hoberg, Pat	55 Miller, Brennan
O	58 Iassogna, Dan	54 Bucknor, CB	97 May, Ben	38 Beck, Adam
P	6 Carlson, Mark	71 Baker, Jordan	85 Scheurwater, Stu	TBD*
Q	23 Barksdale, Lance	5 Hernandez, Angel	93 Little, Will	59 Lentz, Nic
R	92 Hoye, James	8 Drake, Rob	17 Reyburn, DJ	84 Libka, John
S	68 Guccione, Chris	91 Knight, Brian	47 Morales, Gabe	67 Additon, Ryan
U	Unassigned:	87 Barry, Scott	43 Livensparger, Shane	CloseCallSports.com

Transactions:

Crew A (Emmel) added Fletcher for Fairchild, Muchlinski for Lentz, and Visconti for Rehak.

Crew B (Bellino) added Randazzo for Ripperger and Tosi for Livensparger (unassigned).

Crew C (Miller) added Eddings for Drake and Moore for Ortiz.

Crew D (Porter) added Blakney for Muchlinski. Blakney is now a #3.

Crew E (Tichenor) added Blaser for Knight, Gonzalez for Randazzo, and Ceja for Tosi.

Crew F (Johnson) added De Jesus for Gonzalez. Wolcott is now a #2. De Jesus is now a #3.

Crew G (Marquez) added Barrett for Eddings. Barrett is now a #2.

Crew H (Diaz) added Gibson for Fletcher. Gibson is now a #2.

Crew I (Hudson) added Mahrley for Blakney.

Crew J (Wegner) added Vondrak (new-hire) for Scheurwater. Rehak is now a #3.

Crew K (Kulpa) added Fairchild and Wills (new-hire) for Blaser and Visconti.

Crew L (Layne) added Moscoso for Mahrley.

Crew M (Vanover) added Segal (from Nelson) for Guccione (new crew chief). Rackley is now a #2.

Crew N Conroy added Miller, Br for Ceja.

Crew O (Iassogna) added Bucknor and May (from Nelson), for Barry (unassigned) and Morales. 

Crew P (Carlson) added Scheurwater for Gibson and TBD for Br Miller.

Crew Q (Barksdale) added Hernandez for Hickox (retired) and Lentz for Additon.

Crew R (Hoye) added Drake for Hernandez.

Crew S (Guccione) replaced 2023 Crew B (Nelson; retired) and has four different umpires.

Unassigned umpires are Barry and Livensparger. Crews M & P have TBD slots.

Supervisor Jim Reynolds oversees Crews A (Emmel), F (Johnson), N (Conroy), and P (Carlson).

Supervisor Larry Young oversees Crews B (Bellino), D (Porter), and J (Wegner).

Supervisor Mike Everitt oversees Crews C (Miller), G (Marquez), H (Diaz), and Q (Barksdale).

Supervisor Charlie Reliford oversees Crews E (Tichenor), L (Layne), and S (Guccione).

Supervisor Jeff Kellogg oversees Crews I (Hudson), O (Iassogna), and R (Hoye).

Video as follows:

Clint Vondrak and Ryan Wills Hired to Umpire Staff, Guccione Promoted to Crew Chief; Pawol on List of 24 Spring Invitees

Now-former Triple-A umpires Clint Vondrak and Ryan Wills are MLB's two newest full-timers MLB also promoted Chris Guccione to full-time Crew Chief and invited Jen Pawol to Spring Training, the first woman set to umpire a major league exhibition game since Ria Cortesio in 2007, following Pam Postema in the 1980s.

Clinton "Clint" Vondrak joins MLBU at the age of 34 after 12 years in Minor League Baseball, joining MiLB in 2012 and officiating the Pioneer, Midwest, California, Southern, and Pacific Coast Leagues on his way to the majors. Vondrak officiated the 2016 Southern League All-Star Game and has had his MLB debut during during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, on August 10, 2020. He has 286 games of MLB experience.

Ryan Wills is 36 years old to begin the 2024 season and has been hired after 13 years in MiLB. Since starting his minor league career in 2011, Wills has officiated in the Gulf Coast, Appalachian, South Atlantic, California, Carolina, Texas, Eastern, Florida Instructional, and International Leagues prior to his August 22, 2020 debut. Wills might be one of the last MLB new-hires to have graduated from the Jim Evans Academy for Professional Umpiring, which closed in 2012. Wills has worked 402 MLB games.

Chris Guccione has been promoted to Crew Chief after 17 years of major league service (over the course of 24 seasons starting in 2000). He has 3,021 major league games of experience during the regular season, in addition to 9 Wild Card Rounds, 7 Division Series, 5 League Championship Series, and 2 World Series. Similar to Dan Bellino last offseason, Guccione did not work the 2023 postseason prior to his 2024 promotion.

2024 Spring Training Invitee Umpires: Returning sleeve-numbered umpires for Spring Training in 2024 are David Arrieta (100), John Bacon (70), Brock Ballou (119), Paul Clemons (104), Tom Hanahan (69), Edwin Jimenez (75), Emil Jimenez (82), Alex MacKay (105), Dan Merzel (107), Jacob Metz (94), Charlie Ramos (111), Jeremy Riggs (112), Derek Thomas (106), Nate Tomlinson (114), and Brian Walsh (120).

Rounding out the list of 24 Spring invitees are Matt Brown, Steven Jaschinski, James Jean, Austin Jones, Tyler Jones, Dexter Kelley, Chris Marco, Johnathan Parra, and Jen Pawol.

Video as follows:

MLB Umpire Ed Hickox Retires From 28-Year Career

28-year MLB umpire Ed Hickox has retired from on-field officiating after 28 years of baseball in the American and unified major leagues, capping a career interrupted by a 5 years away from the game due to labor dispute and litigation related to injuries sustained on the field.

Hickox's big league career began with a 1990 AL debut and he was one of the 22 AL and NL umpires whose resignations were accepted during an ill-fated bargaining strategy when MLB sought to consolidate umpiring staffs. Hickox returned to the minor leagues as a brand-new Wendelstedt Umpire School recruit in 2002, working his way up the chain until reaching the now-unified MLB staff in 2005.

Litigation of a different variety struck Hickox after returning to the big league staff when he suffered concussion and ear injuries in 2005 and again in 2009, filing a lawsuit again Wilson Sporting Goods, whom Hickox alleged had given him a defective helmet he wore when he suffered the injuries.

A District of Columbia Superior Court jury ordered Wilson pay Hickox $775,000 for damages (this award was ultimately appealed and affirmed).

In addition to full-time major league umpiring, Hickox worked part-time as a Daytona Beach Shores detective.

Hickox retires after 28 years and 2,707 major league games, alongside 5 Division Series and 36 ejections.

Video as follows:

MLB Umpire Jeff Nelson Retires After 27 Year Career

Veteran MLB umpire and crew chief Jeff Nelson has retired after 27 years of major league service, according to Nelson's hometown StarTribune.

Nelson leaves the highest level of baseball having officiated over 3,100 big league games, beginning with a National League stint in 1997. Nelson officiated six Wild Card Series, eight Division Series, nine League Championship Series, and four World Series during his major league career.

Nelson racked up 75 total MLB ejections during his career, the first of Alex Arias, Barry Bonds, and Ricky Bottalico during an intentional HBP and bench-clearing brawl situation in 1998, and concluding with Brian Sweeney on September 8, 2023.

Video as follows:

2023 MLB World Series Umpire Roster

Major League Baseball assigned seven umpires to the 2023 MLB World Series featuring the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks. Bill Miller will serve as crew chief while Alfonso Marquez will be backup chief. Five of the seven-person crew are officiating their first career World Series.

Crew Chiefs are indicated in bold text and by the -cc suffix with regular season crew chiefs denoted by an asterisk (*). Those working their first World Series are marked with ^1st WS^. The following listings feature Game 1 configurations such that the plate umpire from Game 1 will work right field in Game 2, and all other umpires will move clockwise (e.g., 3B becomes 2B). Games 4 and 5 plates are if necessary. All World Series umpires are taken from a pool of umps who officiated the 2023 AL and NL Division Series.

MLB World Series (Arizona Diamondbacks vs Texas Rangers) Umpires:

HP: DJ Reyburn ^1st WS^ [Game 1 Plate]      [2 WC, 4 DS, 1 LCS, 1st World Series]

1B: Alfonso Márquez* [Game 3 Plate]            [3 WC, 12 DS, 6 LCS, 5th World Series]

2B: David Rackley ^1st WS^ [Game 4 Plate]  [4 WC, 3 DS, 1 LCS, 1st World Series]

3B: Brian Knight ^1st WS^ [Game 5 Plate]     [3 WC, 5 DS, 1 LCS, 1st World Series]

LF: Vic Carapazza ^1st WS^ [Game 6 Plate]   [2 WC, 6 DS, 2 LCS, 1st World Series]

RF: Bill Miller* -cc [Game 7 Plate]                 [6 WC, 11 DS, 8 LCS, 5th World Series]
Reserve: Quinn Wolcott [Game 2 Plate]           [3 WC, 4 DS, 1 LCS, 1st World Series]

World Series Replay Review: Lance Barrett, Todd Tichenor.

Video as follows:

2023 AL and NL League Championship Series Umpire Roster

Major League Baseball assigned 14 umpires to the 2023 American and National League Championship Series round of the MLB postseason featuring Astros-Rangers (ALCS) and Phillies-Diamondbacks (NLCS). Crew Chiefs are Dan Iassogna and James Hoye.

Crew Chiefs are indicated in bold text and by the -cc suffix with regular season crew chiefs denoted by an asterisk (*). Those working their first League Championship Series are marked with ^1st CS^. The following listings feature Game 1 configurations such that the plate umpire from Game 1 will work right field in Game 2, the Reserve umpire falls in rotation between 1B and HP (e.g., 1B->Reserve->HP->RF) and all other umpires will move clockwise (e.g., 3B becomes 2B). Games 5, 6, and 7 plates are if necessary.

AL League Championship Series (Houston Astros vs Texas Rangers) Umpires:

HP: Stu Scheurwater ^1st LCS^ [Game 1 Plate]        [2 WC, 2 DS, 1st Lg Champ Series]

1B: James Hoye* -cc [Game 3 Plate]                        [5 WC, 4 DS, 4th LCS, 2 WS]

2B: Doug Eddings [Game 4 Plate]                             [4 WC, 6 DS, 3rd LCS, 1 WS]

3B: Marvin Hudson* [Game 5 Plate]                         [2 WC, 8 DS, 3rd LCS, 2 WS]

LF: Jordan Baker [Game 6 Plate]                               [4 WC, 2 DS, 2nd LCS, 1 WS]

RF: Dan Bellino* [Game 7 Plate]                                 [2 WC, 7 DS, 2nd LCS, 1 WS]

Reserve: Mark Ripperger ^1st LCS^ [Game 2 Plate] [2 WC, 1 DS, 1st Lg Champ Series]

NL League Championship Series (Philadelphia Phillies vs Arizona Diamondbacks) Umpires:

HP: Andy Fletcher ^1st LCS^ [Game 1 Plate]        [4 WC, 2 DS, 1st Lg Champ Series]

1B: Dan Iassogna* -cc [Game 3 Plate]                  [4 WC, 7 DS, 7th LCS, 3 WS]

2B: Mike Muchlinski [Game 4 Plate]                     [3 WC, 3 DS, 3rd LCS, 1 WS]

3B: Lance Barksdale* [Game 5 Plate]                    [4 WC, 6 DS, 4th LCS, 2 WS]

LF: Tripp Gibson [Game 6 Plate]                            [4 WC, 3 DS, 2nd LCS, 1 WS]

RF: Adam Hamari [Game 7 Plate]                          [4 WC, 1 DS, 2nd LCS]

Reserve: Carlos Torres ^1st LCS^ [Game 2 Plate] [3 WC, 2 DS, 1st Lg Champ Series]

League Championship Series Replay Review: Mike Estabrook, Jeremie Rehak, Chris Segal.

Video as follows:

2023 AL and NL Division Series Umpire Roster

Major League Baseball assigned 24 umpires to the 2023 American and National League Division Series round of the MLB postseason featuring Orioles-Rangers, Astros-Twins (ALDS), Braves-Phillies, and Dodgers-Diamondbacks (NLDS). Crew Chiefs are Alfonso Márquez, Bill Miller, Mark Carlson, and Todd Tichenor.

Crew Chiefs are indicated in bold text and by the -cc suffix with regular season crew chiefs denoted by an asterisk (*). Those working their first Division Series are marked with ^1st DS^ postseason will be noted with a ^1st Postseason^ mark. The following listings feature Game 1 configurations such that the plate umpire from Game 1 will work right field in Game 2, and all other umpires will move clockwise (e.g., 3B becomes 2B). Games 4 and 5 plates are if necessary.

AL Division Series (Baltimore Orioles vs Texas Rangers) Umpires:

HP: Lance Barrett [Game 1 Plate]                    [3 WC, 3rd Division Series, 1 LCS]

1B: John Libka ^1st DS^ [Game 2 Plate]         [1 WC, 1st Division Series]

2B: Alfonso Márquez* -cc [Game 3 Plate]     [3 WC, 12th Division Series, 6 LCS, 4 WS]

3B: Cory Blaser [Game 4 Plate]                       [3 WC, 5th Division Series, 2 LCS]

LF: Quinn Wolcott [Game 5 Plate]                   [3 WC, 4th Division Series, 1 LCS]

RF: Nic Lentz                                                    [2nd Division Series]

AL Division Series (Houston Astros vs Minnesota Twins) Umpires:

HP: Brian Knight [Game 1 Plate]                 [3 WC, 5th Division Series, 1 LCS]

1B: DJ Reyburn [Game 2 Plate]                   [2 WC, 4th Division Series, 1 LCS]

2B: Bill Miller* -cc [Game 3 Plate]             [6 WC, 11th Division Series, 8 LCS, 4 WS]

3B: Jansen Visconti [Game 4 Plate]              [1 WC, 2nd Division Series]

LF: John Tumpane [Game 5 Plate]               [2 WC, 4th Division Series, 1 LCS]

RF: Roberto Ortiz ^1st DS^                          [1 WC, 1st Division Series]

NL Division Series (Atlanta Braves vs Philadelphia Phillies) Umpires:

HP: Brian O'Nora [Game 1 Plate]               [7th Division Series, 1 LCS, 1 WS]

1B: Ben May ^1st DS^ [Game 2 Plate]       [1 WC, 1st Division Series]

2B: Mark Carlson* -cc [Game 3 Plate]     [2 WC, 7th Division Series, 6 LCS, 2 WS]

3B: David Rackley [Game 4 Plate]             [4 WC, 3rd Division Series, 1 LCS]

LF: Chris Guccione [Game 5 Plate]            [6 WC, 8th Division Series, 5 LCS, 2 WS]

RF: Ramon De Jesus ^1st DS^                    [1 WC, 1st Division Series]

NL Division Series (LA Dodgers vs Arizona Diamondbacks) Umpires:

HP: Vic Carapazza [Game 1 Plate]             [2 WC, 6th Division Series, 2 LCS]

1B: Gabe Morales [Game 2 Plate]              [2 WC, 2nd Division Series]

2B: Todd Tichenor* -cc [Game 3 Plate]    [3 WC, 6th Division Series, 3 LCS, 1 WS]

3B: Will Little                                              [3 WC, 5th Division Series, 1 LCS]

LF: Jim Wolf                                                [3 WC, 6th Division Series, 5 LCS, 2 WS]

RF: Ryan Additon ^1st Postseason^            [1st Division Series]

Division Series Replay Review: Nestor Ceja, Bruce Dreckman, Junior Valentine, Chad Whitson.

Video as follows:

2023 AL and NL Wild Card Series Umpire Roster

Major League Baseball assigned 24 umpires to the 2023 American and National League Wild Card Series round of the MLB postseason featuring Blue Jays-Twins & Rangers-Rays (AL), and Diamondbacks-Brewers & Marlins-Phillies (NL). Crew Chiefs include Dan Iassogna, Lance Barksdale, Alan Porter, and James Hoye.

Crew Chiefs are indicated in bold text and by the -cc suffix with regular season crew chiefs denoted by an asterisk (*) while those working their first postseason will be noted with a ^1st^ mark. The following listings feature Game 1 configurations such that the plate umpire from Game 1 will work right field in Game 2, and all other umpires will move clockwise (e.g., 3B becomes 2B). Game 3 plates are if necessary.

AL Wild Card (Toronto Blue Jays @ Minnesota Twins) Umpires:

HP: Andy Fletcher [Game 1 Plate]                [4th Wild Card, 2 DS]

1B: Adam Hamari [Game 2 Plate]                 [4th Wild Card, 1 DS, 1 LCS]

2B: Mike Muchlinski [Game 3 Plate]            [3rd Wild Card, 3 DS, 2 LCS, 1 WS]

3B: Dan Iassogna* -cc                                  [4th Wild Card, 7 DS, 6 LCS, 3 WS]

LF: Mark Wegner*                                        [4th Wild Card, 10 DS, 5 LCS, 2 WS]

RF: Jeremie Rehak                                       [1st Wild Card, 1 DS]

AL Wild Card (Texas Rangers @ Tampa Bay Rays) Umpires:

HP: Carlos Torres [Game 1 Plate]                [3rd Wild Card, 2 DS]

1B: Tripp Gibson [Game 2 Plate]                 [4th Wild Card, 3 DS, 1 LCS, 1 WS]

2B: Lance Barksdale* -cc [Game 3 Plate] [4rd Wild Card, 6 DS, 3 LCS, 2 WS]

3B: Adrian Johnson*                                    [3rd Wild Card, 4 DS, 1 LCS]

LF: Adam Beck ^1st^                                   [1st Wild Card]

RF: Alex Tosi ^1st^                                      [1st Wild Card]

NL Wild Card (Arizona Diamondbacks @ Milwaukee Brewers) Umpires:

HP: Mark Ripperger [Game 1 Plate]           [2nd Wild Card, 1 DS]

1B: Dan Bellino* [Game 2 Plate]                [2nd Wild Card, 7 DS, 1 LCS, 1 WS]

2B: Alan Porter* -cc [Game 3 Plate]         [4th Wild Card, 6 DS, 3 LCS, 2 WS]

3B: Mike Estabrook                                     [2nd WC, 2 DS]

LF: Chris Segal                                            [2nd Wild Card, 1 DS]

RF: Sean Barber ^1st^                                 [1st Wild Card]

NL Wild Card (Miami Marlins @ Philadelphia Phillies) Umpires:

HP: Stu Scheurwater [Game 1 Plate]         [2nd Wild Card, 2 DS]

1B: Doug Eddings [Game 2 Plate]             [4th Wild Card, 6 DS, 2 LCS, 1 WS]

2B: James Hoye* -cc [Game 3 Plate]       [5th Wild Card, 4 DS, 3 LCS, 2 WS]

3B: Marvin Hudson*                                  [2nd Wild Card, 8 DS, 2 LCS, 2 WS]

LF: Jordan Baker                                        [4th Wild Card, 2 DS, 1 LCS, 1 WS]

RF: Edwin Moscoso ^1st^                          [1st Wild Card]

Wild Card Series Replay Review: Ryan Blakney, Rob Drake, Nick Mahrley, Brennan Miller.

Video as follows:

2023 MLB Umpire Crew Roster & Call-Up Umpires

Major League Baseball has assigned the following umpires to its full-time staff for the 2023 season, divided into 19 crews and comprised of four umpires led by a Crew Chief. Jerry Layne is now the senior-most crew chief on staff, while seven new crew chiefs will lead permanent crews for the first time in 2023. MLB also hired 10 new full-time umpires for the 2023 season to fill vacancies left by 10 retirees. Below the Umpire Crews is the roster of the 2023 call-up officials, who are minor league (AAA-level) umpires authorized to fill in for vacationing or injured full-time MLB umpires during the regular season.

#	Crew Chief	Umpire 2	Umpire 3	Umpire 4
A	24 Layne, Jerry	19 Carapazza, Vic	78 Hamari, Adam	48 Mahrley, Nick
B	45 Nelson, Jeff	54 Bucknor, CB	96 Segal, Chris	97 May, Ben
C	26 Miller, Bill	8 Drake, Rob	62 Whitson, Chad	40 Ortiz, Roberto
D	27 Vanover, Larry	68 Guccione, Chris	86 Rackley, David	32 Moscoso, Edwin
E	50 Emmel, Paul	4 Fairchild, Chad	59 Lentz, Nic	35 Rehak, Jeremy
F	14 Wegner, Mark	1 Dreckman, Bruce	85 Scherwater, Stu	44 Moore, Malachi
G	72 Marquez, Alfonso	88 Eddings, Doug	16 Barrett, Lance	18 DeJesus, Ramon
H	58 Iassogna, Dan	87 Barry, Scott	47 Morales, Gabe	38 Beck, Adam
I	6 Carlson, Mark	71 Baker, Jordan	73 Gibson, Tripp	55 Miller, Brennan
J	63 Diaz, Laz	49 Fletcher, Andy	83 Estabrook, Mike	12 Bacchus, Erich
K	46 Kulpa, Ron	89 Blaser, Cory	37 Torres, Carlos	52 Visconti, Jansen
L	51 Hudson, Marvin	21 Wendelstedt, Hunter	74 Tumpane, John	36 Blakney, Ryan
M	23 Barksdale, Lance	15 Hickox, Ed*	93 Little, Will	67 Additon, Ryan
N	92 Hoye, James	5 Hernandez, Angel	17 Reyburn, DJ	84 Libka, John
O	80 Johnson, Adrian	79 Gonzalez, Manny	81 Wolcott, Quinn	25 Valentine, Junior
P	2 Bellino, Dan	10 Cuzzi, Phil	90 Ripperger, Mark	43 Livensparger, Shane
Q	13 Tichenor, Todd	91 Knight, Brian	11 Randazzo, Tony	66 Tosi, Alex
R	64 Porter, Alan	28 Wolf, Jim	76 Muchlinski Mike	29 Barber, Sean
S	98 Conroy, Chris	7 O'Nora, Brian	31 Hoberg, Pat	33 Ceja, Nestor
	Injured List:	15 Hickox, Ed		CloseCallSports.com

Triple-A Call-Up Umpires:

Arrieta, David (Sleeve #100)

Bacon, John (70)

Ballou, Brock (119)

Clemons, Paul (104)

MacKay, Alex (105)

Merzel, Dan (107)

Navas, Jose (110)

Ramos, Charlie (111)

Riggs, Jeremy (112)

Rosenberg, Randy (113)

Tomlinson, Nate (114)

Vondrak, Clint (116)

Williams, Lew (117)

Wills, Ryan (118)

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MLB Promotes 7 Crew Chiefs for 2023

After 10 umpires—including seven crew chiefs—retired to close out 2022, Major League Baseball promoted seven veteran umpires to fill the crew chief vacancies. Senior-most on MLB's list of new chiefs is Lance Barksdale, with Dan Bellino, Chris Conroy, James Hoye, Adrian Johnson, Alan Porter, and Todd Tichenor rounding out the new appointments.

In the table below, we have summarized data, including the umpire's age at time of promotion to crew chief, the year of their MLB debut (the era of NL and AL league-specific debuts is just about over), World Series postseason experience, and as we did last time for the 10 Triple-A call-ups hired to the full-time MLB staff, Replay Overturn Rate and Plate Score. The rankings for both Replay and Plate columns are scaled from one (best) to 19 (lowest), relative to other MLB crew chiefs.

Name	Age	MLB Debut	World Series?	Replay Overturn Rate	Replay Rank	Plate Score	Plate Rank
Barksdale, Lance	56	2000	Yes (2)	17.7	4	93.4	1
Bellino, Dan	44	2008	Yes (1)	15.3	8	92.8	5
Conroy, Chris	48	2010	Yes (1)	12.3	17	92.9	4
Hoye, James	52	2003	Yes (2)	13.6	14	92.6	8
Johnson, Adrian	47	2006	No	13.9	13	91.7	15
Porter, Alan	45	2010	Yes (1)	16.6	5	93.3	2
Tichenor, Todd	46	2007	Yes (1)	15.7	7	92.7	6

Video as follows: