This was supposed to be Brek Montoya's first season deciding what was — and what wasn't — a strike.
Instead, the umpire is part of one.
The 23-year-old Flowing Wells High School graduate was one of about a half-dozen umpires who picketed outside the Sidewinders game at Tucson Electric Park on Thursday.
About 220 men in blue — represented by the Association of Minor League Umpires — began a strike on April 4, the first day of the season for some of the 16 minor leagues.
The Pacific Coast League season began two days later.
The umpires' union wants a pay raise and an increased per diem. Last year's deal expired Nov. 30.
Earlier this year, Montoya passed through Wendelstedt Umpire School — one of two schools certified as a prerequisite by the Professional Baseball Umpire Corp., an arm of minor-league baseball.
People are also reading…
He finished in the top 25 of his class of more than 100, and was told he would work Single-A games this year — once the strike had ended.
Montoya said he knew he wanted to be an umpire at age 4. He would talk to umpires who called his older brother's games, curious why they made the calls they did.
At 14, he umpired a Flowing Wells Continental Little League game because an umpire failed to show. He filled in for the rest of the season to earn dinner at a restaurant or the field's snack bar.
"My friends used to look at me like I'm crazy," Montoya said. "They'd ask, 'Why do you want to do something where everybody hates you?' "
He moved to Long Beach outside of New York City two years ago — "That's where the Major League Baseball offices are located," he said — and made money on the side as a production assistant on the television show "The Bachelorette." He worked in retail and at a gym, and now calls city baseball games to make ends meet.
Earlier this year, he spent five weeks at the umpiring school on an MLB minority scholarship, plus two weeks being evaluated by PBUC and one week doing extra work — all so he could be a pro umpire this season.
Montoya said he does not begrudge the union for the strike. Even though he has not umpired a single pro inning, he has given his support.
"(It's) a chance for me to rub elbows with the right people," he said.
Jeff Macias, a five-year veteran who umpires in the Double-A Texas League, picketed alongside Montoya on Thursday.
Macias, a Phoenix resident who is 27 and married with a child, waits tables at night and cleans clubs and carts at a golf course during the day.
"We just want to make a salary we can live off of," he said.
Minor-league umpires at the Single-A level and above are paid for a five-month season. They earn between $2,500 and $3,400 a month. In contrast, major-league umpires make between $90,000 and $350,000 per year, and receive a $345 per diem.
Minor League Baseball, an entity based in St. Petersburg, Fla., that receives dues from the 16 minor leagues, offered an additional $100 per month and $1 per diem this spring, but also raised the insurance deductible from the last year's minimum of $100. The umpires' union, formed in 2000, rejected the offer and announced a strike. The governing body then rescinded its most recent proposal, which was offered March 27.
"I don't think the timing is good," Sidewinders owner Jay Zucker said. "As an owner, I wish the timing occurred in the off-season and the beginning of the season. "I just hope the general public doesn't misinterpret that the game is compromised. It has not disrupted the games."
With 28 regular umpires on strike, the PCL has employed about 100 replacements, with experience ranging from high schools to spring training, said George King, the league's vice president for business and operations.
"We're not so short-sighted to think there's no adjustment needed (for the new umpires); of course there is," King said. "But there's a tremendous reservoir of umpires beyond the 28 we have normally."
Whether those umpires are there all season depends on how talks progress between the union and Minor League Baseball. The two sides do not appear close.
Montoya said he supports the union, but can't wait for the strike to be over.
"I'm ready," he said. "I mean, it's my career. I'm willing to go wherever they want me to go once everything's settled."
Minor-league umpire salaries
Triple-A: Between $2,500 and $3,400 a month; $25 per diem
Double-A: Between $2,200 and $2,400, $22 per diem
Single-A: Between $1,900 and $2,200 (full season); $1,800 and $2,000 (short season), $20 per diem
Umpires are paid only during the season
Source: Professional Baseball Umpire Corp.
