Nate Yeskie talks what makes Gage Jump so dangerous on the mound

We got the chance to speak to LSU's new Pitching Coach Nate Yeskie for the first time on Friday. The former Arizona and Texas A&M pitching coach is one of the best in the business and was with Jay Johnson in Tucson from 2020-2021 before joining the Aggies squad in 2022 when Johnson took the job at LSU.

This offseason when former LSU Pitching Coach Wes Johnson was hired by Georgia to be their next head coach, Jay Johnson decided to reach out to his old pal. Eventually, the two decided to reunite in Baton Rouge, and Jay Johnson has had nothing but great things to say about Coach Yeskie since.

I know we've already talked about Gage Jump in detail earlier this week, but he continues to be the topic of conversation in every media availability. In out first conversation with the new coach, Yeskie was asked about UCLA transfer pitcher Gage Jump multiple times. Jump is coming off a torn UCL, but is expected to play a massive role in this pitching staff in 2024.

When asked about what he likes in Jump, Yeskie said he's got great stuff, and when you can do what he can do as a lefty, it makes it very hard to find success against him.

"Well he's got good stuff. The metrics world can measure some of those things, he's certainly competitive. Left handed, it's just different what he can do from that side of the rubber. When you have that and you have an advanced secondary repertoire that you can go to, I think with those things kind of as a blend, there aren't many guys like him. The uniqueness of what he does kind of sets him apart."

Nate Yeskie

In today's age of college baseball, everyone wants to see pitchers throwing 100+ miles per hour and just burning batters with their fastball, but the truth is, that's not how great pitchers win. You need to have a balanced attack that you can go to, and that's exactly what Gage Jump has.

"In this day and age, as much as fastball velocity is measured and lauded and so many people get excited about those things, you start to look at it and look at the pro guys today and they start to get closer and closer to the pitching machine because they know what they're going to see in spring training. Velocity is nice, it is part of the component, but if you ask good hitters what they have to do, cover both sides of the plate and be ready for multiple pitches and there isn't a predictability to what's going on, that is what I think allows him to have success."

Nate Yeskie

Jump has four pitches he can attack you with; his fastball, slider, curveball and changeup. He recently added the slider to his arsenal and has been working to better his changeup this offseason.

Yeskie thinks Jump's curveball and fastball are special, so if he can figure out how to locate his slider and continue working on his changeup, he's going to be a very tough pitcher to face.

"Curveball is different. We've got him and couple other left handers where their breaking balls are unique. He's added the slider, which wasn't part of his arsenal in the past. The change up has been a work in progress, like it has been with most guys with good fastballs. To them, a changeup now ends up being a bad fastball and because they have good secondary stuff in regards to the breaking ball, the changeup tends to lag behind. He's made it a point of emphasis to get that better. In his last outing, he didn't showcase it a lot, but in his side work this week, lot better with it, so we'll see how it goes moving forward."

Nate Yeskie

Pitching isn't all about your arm talent either. It's a mind game between the pitcher and the batter as both sides try to figure out how to best their opponent.

Yeskie says the best pitchers understand the strike zone and how to get batters off balance with their swings and make them make poor decisions at the plate, and he feels when you combine Jump's arsenal with his approach, he has the ability to do that.

"I think his ability to pitch in the top and bottom of the zone and pitch to both sides, I think there's a couple of ways you can look at it; You've got vertical, you've got horizontal and you've got front to back, kind of that three dimensional thing. Better hitters will tell you that better pitchers understand getting the barrel in front of the hands, catching the barrel deeper in the zone, creating bad swing decisions. When you have his arsenal, you can do that."

Nate Yeskie

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