Twin brothers Tyler and Austin Jones have fulfilled their dreams of becoming Major League Baseball umpires.
The brothers, who attended Fort Dorchester High School in Charleston, S.C., are the first pair of twins to become MLB umpires, according to Webb Wright of ABC News 4.
Austin received his first promotion to MLB last June, and Tyler debuted on Sunday, May 4, in a doubleheader between the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets. Tyler worked first base for game one of the doubleheader and moved to third base for game two.
The brothers’ head high school baseball coach, Ronnie Saylor, told Wright that both umpires are perfect fits for the opportunity and career.
“Two great kids. You won’t find two better young men character-wise,” Saylor told Wright.
“They’re always doing the right thing and, and always helpful and all that kind of stuff. Just great, great people. And cerebral kind of players were the thinkers, real up on the rules and knowing where everybody should be and all those kind of things,” Saylor said in the interview with ABC News 4.
Despite Austin and Tyler becoming the first set of twins to umpire in MLB, they are also the fourth set of brothers to umpire games at the MLB level.
They joined Tim and William Welke, John and Mark Hirschbeck, and Emil and Edwin Jimenez.
“I think it’s cool,” Tyler told MLB.com’s John Denton about his and Austin’s relationship and passion for umpiring.
“I know a couple of sets of twins from back home, and they went their own paths after high school, whether it’s military or something like that. But for he and I to still share this same interest — and to be able to do it together for 11 years and be each other’s support system — it’s been great.
“No matter what, if I’m in any bind I can give him a call and we can hash it out. We can get really mad at each other, and 30 minutes later it’s over.”
Photo: Milwaukee Brewers’ Christian Yelich, left, pauses at second base after hitting a double against the Seattle Mariners as umpire Austin Jones calls for time during the third inning of a spring training baseball game Sunday, March 5, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
