MLB Hires Nic Lentz to Full-Time Umpire Staff

Major League Baseball hired Nic Lentz to its full-time umpire staff, cementing the 30-year-old Michigan native's place in MLB history. Nicolas James Lentz joins the MLBU roster with 485 games of big league experience and eight ejections following his debut in April 2016. He wears the uniform sleeve number 59.

After graduating from the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring in 2008, Lentz journeyed through Minor League Baseball's Arizona, Florida Instructional, New York-Penn, Midwest, Florida State, Arizona Instructional, Eastern, and International Leagues.

Lentz ejected Boone in August 2018.

He also officiated the offseason Venezuelan and Arizona Fall Leagues. Lentz is the first Coastal Plain League alum to debut in the Major Leagues; fellow MLB call-ups Roberto Ortiz, Shane Livensparger, and John Bacon also are CPL alumni.

New-hire Lentz received the UEFL's Best Ejection of the Year Award in 2018 following his banishment of Aaron Boone in New York over a balls/strikes dispute.

As we noted in the wake of a slew of Yankees ejections in 2019, Boone appears to find himself ejected by Triple-A call-up umpires at a disproportionate rate, and Lentz constitutes the first Triple-A Boone ejector to be subsequently hired by MLB to the full-time staff (Boone has only been managing the Yankees since 2018).
Related Post: 2018 UEFL Award for Ejections of the Year - West & Lentz (11/8/18).

Lentz was one of several young umpires to run a half-marathon this offseason, along with Brennan Miller, Chris Segal, and first-time Spring Training roster invitee Erich Bachus.
Related Post: Triple-A Tradition? Young Umps Run for Charity (2/17/20).

In 2018, we identified Lentz as the MiLB umpire most likely to be hired by Major League Baseball. He fills the vacancy left by the loss of longtime MLB umpire Eric Cooper.
Related Post: Future MLB Hiring Outlook at the 2018 Break (7/16/18).
Related Post: Eric Cooper Dies at 52 Following Blood Clot (10/20/19).