MLB Hires Ryan Additon & John Libka to Full-Time Staff

With Gerry Davis and Brian Gorman's retirements, MLB has hired call-up umpires Ryan Additon and John Libka to its full-time staff. Joe West leads a short list of additional veteran umps whose retirements have created vacancies on the MLBU roster and we will announce both those retirements and additional new-hire replacements in the coming weeks.

First publicly announced by the Wendelstedt Umpire School where Additon and Libka serve as instructors, the first two hires of 2022 during the uncertainty of both COVID and an ongoing lockout and contract dispute between MLB team owners and the players' union are two young umpires who score highly on a number of baseball officiating metrics.

For instance, John Libka, according to UmpScorecards, once again took the crown as the most accurate umpire, overall, in calling balls and strikes during the 2021 season.

Ryan Additon made his major league debut on May 21, 2017 in Minnesota and joins the full-time staff with 381 games of big league experience. Additon has worked the Gulf Coast, New York-Penn, Midwest, Florida State, Arizona Instructional, Southern, Arizona Fall, and International (aka Triple-A East) Leagues.

John Libka made his MLB debut just one week following Additon's, on May 27, 2017 in Chicago alongside Tom Hallion's crew, and has just 10 fewer games in the league (371) than Additon. Libka, long regarded as MLB's most accurate plate umpire dating back to the Boston University umpire study, journeyed through the Gulf Coast, New York-Penn, Midwest, Florida State, Eastern, Arizona Fall, and Pacific Coast (Triple-A West) Leagues.

Both Additon and Libka officiated the 2017 AFL Fall Stars Game.