A's 2024 MLB Draft Pick Getting Top-100 Consideration

The Athletics have been hitting on some of their recent draft picks, with first rounders Jacob Wilson (2023) and Nick Kurtz (2024) already having an impact at the big league level. Wilson made his debut about a year after he was selected, while the A's were more aggressive with Kurtz, and he ended up in West Sacramento in April of this season.

Both players have shown tons of promise early in their careers.

In a recent edition of the MLB Pipeline Inbox, Jonathan Mayo fielded a question about another top pick from the 2024 MLB Draft, left-hander Gage Jump out of LSU. The question was about the emergence of Jump, and where that is landing him on the list of the top left-handed pitching prospects.

Jump was selected by the A's with the No. 73 overall pick, and has been on a tear to begin the 2025 campaign in his pro debut. The A's started him off in High-A Lansing, where he went 4-1 with a 2.32 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP in 31 innings.

He was promoted to Double-A Midland on May 13 and has made three starts with the RockHounds, going 3-0 with a 0.95 ERA and an identical 0.84 WHIP across 19 innings.

In total, he's 7-1 with a 1.80 ERA in his first 50 innings of professional baseball, and has struck out 67 batters in that span, giving him a strikeout rate of 34.6%. MLB Pipeline has him ranked as the A's No. 13 prospect as things stand, but by the sound of it, they will be inclined to move him up the board a bit when they do their re-rankings.

To that point, Mayo says that Jump could be the top southpaw added to the top-10 left-handed prospects list when there is an opening. "And we have been talking about Jump as a potential Top 100 replacement, which would vault him onto the southpaw rankings as well."

Pardon the pun, but that would be a huge jump for Jump, going from the No. 13 prospect in the system to a top-100 guy over the span of a couple of months is pretty impressive and speaks to just how effective he's been so far this season.

With the emergence of Jump and Luis Morales this season, the A's may have some high-level reinforcements available before long. Morales just made the leap up to Triple-A Las Vegas last week, and went six no-hit innings. There are some that think he could be in Sacramento before long if he has a couple more good outings, and the A's starters continue to struggle.

Jump was still drafted under a year ago, and while the A's have brought Wilson and Kurtz along quickly, it's different for position players and pitchers. The development process tends to be a little longer on the pitching side of things.

Still, there is a chance that if the A's are fighting for a postseason spot late in the year that he could be on the list of guys to take a look at, maybe in a bullpen role, down the stretch.