Wendelstedt Umpire School is Shutting Down After 2026 Class

[johnnyg08]

[The Man in Blue]

What the what?!

MLB moving everything in house?  

[mw94]

Well that sucks!  Now the only way to try & become a Pro Ump is to goto  a MLB clinic and get noticed. 

I guess the good part is if you get noticed at the MLB clinic and picked to go to the school in Vero Beach FL.

Its tuition free   

https://youtu.be/CXPRkTGtiGA?si=hUx70mFuTdpgO4eC

[Velho]

3 minutes ago, mw94 said:

I guess the good part is if you get noticed at the MLB clinic and picked to go to the school in Vero Beach FL.

Its tuition free 

So people don't have to search for it:

https://www.mlb.com/official-information/umpires/camps/prospect-development

[SeeingEyeDog]

I'll say it...and I would like to begin with, no...I didn't attend pro-school. This sucks on several levels.

I have never met Hunter but, I have always felt a bit of a kinship to him as we are about 6 months apart in age. I would also like to take this opportunity to say, continued rest and recovery to Hunter after that line drive earlier this season. I continue to be concerned about him because when I Google him, there is nothing beyond the injury and that he was in the hospital. To my knowledge, he has not been back on the field yet this season and I'm sure I speak for The Brotherhood everywhere when I say we hope to see him back out there again real soon!

I personally know about 2 dozen guys in my association and countless others I have met through the years who have been to Wendelstedt, several in the past few years. For someone like myself who will never attend pro school, those guys are an INVALUABLE resource to me and my work on the field. They all bring back their knowledge and experience from Wendelstedt and freely share that with local amateurs like myself and I will always be grateful.

Many umpires of all abilities and ages have "used" Wendelstedt as a sort of "umpire fantasy camp". They get the funds together and they go and they know full well for whatever reason, they are not going to get the call for pro ball. But, they come home to their local markets having received the same training and testing and field work and classroom work that people who WILL work pro ball receive. That all ends in 2026. The only people going to MLB's pro school will be those who have "earned" it with the benefit being everyone will be on scholarship.

Fundamentally, I don't like a league, ANY league, having supreme command and control over the training and development of its officials/umpires. I don't know how the NFL, NBA and or NHL do it but, by having things the way they were with Evans and Wendelstedt (and I believe there was another one), those schools are operating independently of the league, WITH the league's oversight on curriculum, mechanics, etc. gives a much more transparent appearance to the proceedings and process.

In closing, I've heard a lot of my local brothers speak out and dismiss the closing of Wendelstedt and the move to have MLB take over/create an umpire school as "...just a DEI initiative". And to that I will simply say, MLB's goal and the goal within The Game of Baseball should be to identify, employ and promote the best umpires at ALL levels of The Game. I promise you, in the over 100 years that professional has been played, The Game has missed out on having the best umpires because previously not everyone could afford to attend pro school to say nothing of MLB's well-documented exclusionary policies. Nobody should be "given" anything in this world because of demographics. If a green-skinned slave girl from Orion can demonstrate she can umpire pro ball as one of the 76 best, she should get the job.

~Dawg

[West Coast Umpire]

Does anyone know the real reason why the school is closing?  I saw on Reddit that only on Wendelstedt grad from the 2025 class got a full-time job in MiLB.  If that's true, then I can see why they'd wind it all up.  When your pitch is that you train more umpires to the MLB level than anyone else and now you get one guy into the minors, it pretty well says it's over.  I hadn't heard that HW was injured but that might also contribute to it.

Saddened by this as I was set to go this year - one of the fantasy camp guys for sure - but due to work and family considerations, had the plan change, with an intent to go in 2027.  I'm too old for pro ball by a long shot but did hope to work college and summer league games after finishing.  Now that opportunity appears gone for good for many of us who wanted get better at the art but know we can't do it without focused training that isn't acquired on a weekend at best.

Also curious that the School just launched a big online rules program (though not with much marketing push and at considerable cost).  That must have been a lot of work that didn't have much of a chance to generate a yield for them.

[johnnyg08]

10 minutes ago, West Coast Umpire said:

Does anyone know the real reason why the school is closing?  I saw on Reddit that only on Wendelstedt grad from the 2025 class got a full-time job in MiLB.  If that's true, then I can see why they'd wind it all up.  When your pitch is that you train more umpires to the MLB level than anyone else and now you get one guy into the minors, it pretty well says it's over.  I hadn't heard that HW was injured but that might also contribute to it.

Saddened by this as I was set to go this year - one of the fantasy camp guys for sure - but due to work and family considerations, had the plan change, with an intent to go in 2027.  I'm too old for pro ball by a long shot but did hope to work college and summer league games after finishing.  Now that opportunity appears gone for good for many of us who wanted get better at the art but know we can't do it without focused training that isn't acquired on a weekend at best.

Also curious that the School just launched a big online rules program (though not with much marketing push and at considerable cost).  That must have been a lot of work that didn't have much of a chance to generate a yield for them.

My guesses are that Hunter is going to retire. Unfortunately he hasn't been on the field since he got hit in the head by a batted ball. 

I think that is a big part..then the other part is that MLB is moving everything in house. 

It's sad, because many umpires attended the school to get better at the amateur level. They had no desire to work pro ball. 

Those gates are closed now. That's the really sad part for me at least. 

 

[SeeingEyeDog]

1 hour ago, West Coast Umpire said:

I saw on Reddit that only on Wendelstedt grad from the 2025 class got a full-time job in MiLB.  If that's true, then I can see why they'd wind it all up.  When your pitch is that you train more umpires to the MLB level than anyone else and now you get one guy into the minors, it pretty well says it's over. 

The actual number is TWO from 2025 are full-time in MiLB...Brendan Auman and Isaac Shepler. But, yes...your point is well-taken.

~Dawg

[West Coast Umpire]

On 8/26/2025 at 5:05 PM, johnnyg08 said:

My guesses are that Hunter is going to retire. Unfortunately he hasn't been on the field since he got hit in the head by a batted ball. 

I think that is a big part..then the other part is that MLB is moving everything in house. 

It's sad, because many umpires attended the school to get better at the amateur level. They had no desire to work pro ball. 

Those gates are closed now. That's the really sad part for me at least. 

I'm one of those umpires who wanted to go to get better at the amateur level.  I would have loved to work pro ball, but I'm about twenty years too old.  This was a bucket list thing for me that I really wanted to do.  This leaves a big gap in the umpire education system - the trickle-down effect of people going to pro school and then coming back to their amateur systems as instructors was huge.  The loss is definitely bigger than the MILB pipeline.

[SH0102]

On 8/26/2025 at 9:39 PM, SeeingEyeDog said:

The actual number is TWO from 2025 are full-time in MiLB...Brendan Auman and Isaac Shepler. But, yes...your point is well-taken.

~Dawg

Fun fact, I worked with Brendan on his first ever game umpiring. Literally, brought him a bag of hand me down gear and clothes and he took the bases and I and others helped him learn basics and got to see him develop and then do college, and now he’s in MILB

hes a good guy and wish him the best

[johnnyg08]

13 hours ago, West Coast Umpire said:

This leaves a big gap in the umpire education system - the trickle-down effect of people going to pro school and then coming back to their amateur systems as instructors was huge.  The loss is definitely bigger than the MILB pipeline.

Spot on. This is huge. It will impact all of us. 

[Marcus6]

Wasn’t there some unannounced agreement a while ago (maybe when Evans closed) that they would keep Wendelstedt for a short period of time as a courtesy to them but eventually MLB was going to take over hiring?