MLB Promotes Veteran Umpire Mark Carlson to Crew Chief

Major League Baseball promoted veteran umpire Mark Carlson to the role of Crew Chief ahead of its 2021 season, filling the vacancy created by Mike Winters' retirement. Having most recently officiated the 2020 World Series, including a Game 7 plate assignment had the series gone the distance, Carlson takes 22 years of big league games and a healthy dose of regular season interim crew chief experience with him to his new supervisory role.

Named one of seven interim crew chiefs for MLB's COVID-modified 2020 season alongside Laz Diaz, Angel Hernandez, Marvin Hudson, Ron Kulpa, Paul Nauert, and Bill Welke, the Illinois-born Carlson was the only umpire of the group to serve as a Crew Chief for the Division Series round of the 2020 postseason (Diaz, Hernandez, Hudson, and Kulpa all officiated the Division Series, but only Carlson served as a crew chief [he was Hudson's chief for ALDS Series A: Tampa vs New York]).

Related Post: MLB Names 7 Interim Crew Chiefs for 2020 (7/23/20).

Carlson's regular season umpiring crew for 2021 is slated to include James Hoye, Jordan Baker, and Chris Segal, but due to pandemic-related restrictions, crews may begin the season regionally, which might alter league-wide crew composition.