Oakland Athletics select LSU pitcher Gage Jump in 2024 MLB Draft

LSU pitcher and former UCLA transfer Gage Jump has been selected in the 2024 MLB Draft. The Oakland Athletics took him with the No. 73 pick of the second round.

Jump has currently spent just three seasons in college featuring a rather up-and-down career thanks to a major injury in his freshman season back at UCLA. In 2022, with the Bruins, Jump posted a 3.86 ERA and had 22 strikeouts in 16 and a third innings pitched before he missed the rest of the season due to Tommy John surgery.

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The Tommy John operation not only ended his ’22 season but also took Jump out for all of 2023. Once healthy again, Jump transferred to LSU, where he was able to get back on the field this spring. Remarkably, there was no statistical drop-off from the last time he took the field back in 2022 and Jump actually improved dramatically, posting a 3.47 ERA in 80+ innings pitched while starting 15 games.

That performance caught the eye of pro scouts and Jump has now been able to go from a year-and-a-half on the bench to MLB draftee. Although, Jump was drafted out of high school back in 2021. He was selected in the 18th round of the 2021 MLB First-Year Player Draft but decided to head to college at attend UCLA instead.

What MLB scouts are saying about Gage Jump

According to MLB.com, Jump came out of high school as a highly-coveted arm. They broke down many of this year’s prospects and provided a full scouting report on Gage Jump prior to the draft.

Take a look at that right here:

“Hitters have a difficult time picking up Jump’s fastball, which ranges from 90-95 mph with significant induced vertical break and carry at the top of the strike zone. It pairs well with his upper-70s curveball that has significant downer break coming out of his high arm slot. He also spins a low-80s slider with more lateral movement and has some feel for a fading low-80s changeup.

“Jump lacks typical starter’s size but he has gotten stronger since having his elbow reconstructed and generates his stuff with arm speed more than effort. He attacks hitters and had a history of throwing four pitches for strikes before getting hurt. If he can maintain his stuff while upgrading his command, he could become a mid-rotation starter.”

With major surgery already behind him, not a ton of wear on that arm, plus a terrific season to point to in 2024, Gage Jump looks the part of a very nice prospect in the ’24 draft.