MLB announced several umpire hires and promotions in the wake of four umpire retirements. Promoted to Crew Chief are: Kerwin Danley, Dan Iassogna, Alfonso Marquez and Jim Reynolds. Ryan Blakney, Ramon de Jesus, Chris Segal and Jansen Visconti were hired to the full-time staff. There are 19 crews of four umpires on full-time staff, for a total of 76 MLB umpires. Absences are covered by minor league umpires called up from the AAA International League and Pacific Coast League. Each crew has a Chief, for a total of 19 crew chiefs. This year’s hires and promotions feature a diverse lot — MLB’s first Mexican-born Crew Chief, first African American Crew Chief and the first umpire on the MLB staff from the Dominican Republic. Story on Yahoo Sports.
Veteran umpire Alfonso Marquez, born in Zacatecas, Mexico, was the first Mexican native on the MLB umpiring staff. He becomes the first Latin-America-born MLB Crew Chief. Marquez and has been officiating Major League games for 21 seasons. Read more here.
Also this week, MLB announced the promotion of Kerwin Danley to a full-time Crew Chief position. Mr. Danley becomes MLB’s first African-American Umpire Crew Chief. Danley, a Los Angeles native, was a collegiate all-American player at San Diego State but was not drafted out of college. Afterwards, he pursued a career in umpiring. He has been officiating MLB games since 1992. More here at Close Call Sports. Click here for his interview yesterday on MLB Hotstove.
Finally, El Tren Deportivo Radio announced via Twitter the hiring of Dominican native Ramon De Jesus to the MLB full-time umpiring staff. He was the first Dominican-born umpire to officiate at the Major League level when he was called up from AAA in April 2016 to fill in on Gary Cederstrom’s crew. De Jesus becomes the first umpire from the Dominican Republic to be added to the full-time roster.