A's Prospect Gage Jump Due For a Promotion

The Athletics have made headlines the past two years with both Jacob Wilson and Nick Kurtz making it to the big leagues (and performing) the year after they were drafted. While they aren't slow playing it with their recently drafted pitchers, they do appear to be more cautious.

Left-hander Gage Jump, selected with the 73rd overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft out of LSU, has been dominating in the minor leagues all season. After beginning the year in Lansing, he was promoted up to Double-A Midland, where he has performed even better in a larger sample size.

On the year, he has a 1.90 ERA across 99 1/3 innings of work, striking out 119 and holding a 0.94 WHIP. It's hard to ask for much more from a pitcher in his first year in pro ball. In Midland he's racked up 68 1/3 innings of work with a 1.71 ERA in 16 appearances (15 starts), holding a 0.98 WHIP and a .184 batting average against.

Over his last eight starts dating back to the beginning of July, he holds a 1.38 ERA across 26 innings of work. For those paying close attention, that's one reason he hasn't been promoted yet--his pitch count is being closely monitored, and has been for awhile. Over this stretch, he's maxed out at five innings of work.

A's watching Gage Jump's workload carefully

In a July 23 outing, he was pulled after three innings in which he didn't allow a hit or a run, walking one and striking out three. He'd used 44 pitches, according to the box score. In last night's performance, he allowed an unearned run on two hits across 3 2/3 innings, and the box score had him at 59 pitches for the game.

He's certainly shown that he's capable at this level, and there are plenty of onlookers that are waiting for him to make the leap to the next level. Earlier this week, A's GM David Forst said that they'd be promoting top prospect Leo De Vries to Midland before the end of the year before starting him back at that level in 2026.

The same logic should track for Jump, even with an innings limit. As far as development goes, for players that have shown that they can thrive at a certain level, it can be important for them to experience that next bump up heading into the offseason in order to give them some hands-on experience on what to expect when they begin the following year.

That little taste of Triple-A could set Jump up to make a push towards the A's roster at some point next year, too. Last year at LSU he totaled 83 innings of work, and the A's are presumably trying to build upon that output while also not shooting well past his previous mark.

Regardless of where he's pitching, Jump has been must-see when he's on the mound this season. The hope is that we'll be able to see more of that in Sacramento in 2026.