MLB’s first female home plate umpire just got the taste of ABS in the harshest way possible. Jen Pawol, the first female home plate umpire in the major league, was officiating a Reds-Guardians spring game this week. And what’s common with any MLB umpire, a confirmed strike was called a ball. However, the strike was so obvious that Pawol quickly faced the heat from the stands, and the fans had a field day on social media.

“The first female home plate umpire in MLB history, Jen Pawol, made the worst call you’ll ever seen in a game… After it was challenged by the catcher, the ABS showed just how awful it was,” Outkick’s Jon Root shared via X.

The ball in question here was obvious in the strike zone. There couldn’t be a better strike than this. The pitch was literally right down the middle.

But Pawol thought otherwise and called it a ball, only to be challenged immediately by the Reds catcher, Tyler Stephenson.

Over the first nine innings, teams can use two ABS challenges. As it can only be initiated by a pitcher, catcher, or batter, and the players need to tap their head immediately after the home plate umpire’s initial call, so did Stephenson.

Monitoring the exact location of the pitch, ABS system overturned the call.

Expectedly, fans started bashing the act on social media.

ABS showed the ball is absolutely middling the strike zone, and it met with rousing boos across the stands. The strike was so obvious that it made the home plate umpire look silly.

Jen Pawol is part of the MLB Call-Up Umpire list, including top Triple-A umpires who fill in for major league crews. She also works as a Spring Training umpire and has been in the professional minor leagues since 2016.

Back in August, Pawol was officiating her debut game between the Marlins and Braves. Coincidentally, her first call as an MLB umpire was also wrong.

It was a 93 MPH fastball by Braves starting pitcher Joey Wentz to Marlins hitter Xavier Edwards. Edwards left it, and the ball went a few inches from the strike zone. But Pawol called it a strike.

Yet, after her debut game, the first-ever MLB home plate umpire was praised by Braves manager Clayton McCullough.

“I think Jen did a really nice job.”

This time, though, MLB fans are at their best, calling her out.

MLB fans are left unamused by the strike zone blunder

“Mrs. Angel Hernandez,” one fan said. “Yeah, Umps are bad. A lot of them. Look up, Angel Hernandez. He is every bit as bad as her, but she is bad too,” another added.

When discussing controversial umpires in MLB, Angel Hernandez’s name is arguably the first to come to mind. He has a long track record of high-profile missed calls, like the one between the Yankees and Red Sox in the 2018 ALDS Game 3. That game saw Hernandez’s 3 calls at first base get overturned by review in the first 4 innings. Hernandez remains the only MLB umpire who has three calls overturned in a single season. Ranking near the bottom of the league in umpire rankings, he averaged 19 incorrect calls a game.

For fans, Jen Pawol is increasingly becoming the female Angel Hernandez!

“Someone needed to make sure the legacy of Angel Hernandez lives on. I don’t think CB Bucknor will be an ump for much longer,” another user mocked.

Bucknor is one of the longest-tenured active MLB umpires, working since 1996. But he is infamous for inconsistencies. In 2025, he held a record of missing 28 calls in a game between the Reds and Cardinals. But as he is 63 now and at the last leg of his career, fans think that if anyone can carry forward the legacy of Hernandez’s inconsistencies, that’s Jen Pawol.

“Holy s—, its jim joyce reincarnated,” one fan remarked. They recalled Joyce’s infamous “wrong call” that cost Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game on June 2, 2010. That game saw Galarraga just one out away from achieving the 21st perfect game in MLB history. Cleveland Indians’ last hitter was at the plate in the ninth, and a grounder was hit to the first baseman.

It took no time for Galarraga to get the ball back and tag the Indians’ batter out. It was an out. But Joyce called the batter safe! Although he acknowledged his mistake later, it cost Galarraga a historic moment. Now, with Pawol missing an obvious strike, fans wonder if Joyce is back again.

“Surprised she didn’t call it an out, honestly,” one user had a sarcastic jab ready. More than just a wrong call, fans wondered if Pawol just missed. In her MLB debut, she missed 14 calls with a 90.3% accuracy rate, ranking 13th out of 15 umpires that day.

With such wrong call frequencies, no wonder fans are recalling Angel Hernandez in Jen Pawol.

But as spring training games allow players and umpires to have that space to make errors and learn from them, probably Pawol will get better with time.