Saturday, July 05

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the A’s Beat newsletter.

Nick Kurtz has been the crown jewel of the Athletics' 2024 MLB Draft class thus far, reaching the big leagues less than a year after he was selected fourth overall and quickly emerging as a middle-of-the-order slugger, but he may not be the only star to emerge from that group.

Gage Jump, a Competitive Balance Round B selection from that same Draft, will be representing the A’s during All-Star weekend as one of two players from the A’s system invited to participate in the All-Star Futures Game on Saturday, July 12, at Truist Park in Atlanta. Third baseman Tommy White, another member of that Draft class who was selected in the second round by the A’s, was also named to the American League squad.

The A’s No. 1 prospect ranking by MLB Pipeline previously occupied by Kurtz before he graduated is now held by Jump, and with good reason. The 22-year-old left-hander has broken through MLB’s Top 100 list at No. 96 on the strength of a dominant debut season.

He started out the 2025 campaign at High-A Lansing, where he posted a 2.32 ERA in six games (five starts) with 45 strikeouts and five walks across 31 innings. He then earned a promotion to Double-A Midland, where he’s pitched even better, recording a 1.91 ERA in eight starts with 44 strikeouts across 42 1/3 innings.

In all, Jump is 8-3 with a combined 2.09 ERA in 14 games (13 starts) with 89 strikeouts and 18 walks over 73 1/3 innings this season.

“You could tell early on with him that he’s pretty special,” A’s Minor League pitching coordinator Mike McFerran said on A’s Cast last month. “I think everyone can kind of feel that from him pretty much from the onset. We’re dealing with an elite pitcher here, and I think he’s blooming in front of us pretty quickly.”

Photo by Kirby Milam/Minor League Baseball

Listed at 6 feet and 200 pounds, Jump carries himself like a power pitcher with a high-quality fastball that sits mid-to-upper 90s with an uphill motion that makes it difficult for hitters to get on top of. But that’s only one of an impressive pitch mix. Also featured is a curveball that tunnels well off the fastball and two different breaking pitches -- a hard slider that can also morph into a bigger sweeper depending on the situation.

Jump has also worked on a changeup that can act as somewhat of a sinker against lefties or more of a traditional changeup to get righties out in front.

“He combines a really elite arm slot with elite characteristics on his fastball,” McFerran said. “He’s got a lot of pitches that have big movement in different directions off of that. He’s also one of the best executors in our system. So, he’s combining pretty much everything that we’re trying to value from a strategy standpoint in terms of how we want our pitchers to perform, and he’s doing it with a mentality that is just really impressive for someone spending his first full year in pro ball.

“He has really made himself into a Swiss army knife that knows how to compete and can do it with stuff that is really elite at the same time.”

White, a college teammate of Jump’s at LSU, is seemingly on the cusp of a promotion to Double-A due to his strong start at Lansing. Battling through some injuries, White, who carries over his "Tommy Tanks" nickname from college, is slashing .277/.348/.505 at High-A with nine home runs, 16 doubles and 24 RBIs in 48 games.

“Participating in the Futures Game is a huge honor,” said A’s assistant general manager and director of player personnel Billy Owens. “It foreshadows a glimpse of the future.

"Tommy Tanks carries Jeff Bagwell-type hitterish ingredients. Gage Jump profiles and carries similarities to Yusei Kikuchi with wicked stuff, high velocity, spin and deception. Looking forward to watching them in Atlanta and excited to see how the experience will propel both going forward.”

Since the founding of the modern-day American League in 1901, only one pitcher has contributed to multiple no-hitters while wearing an A's uniform. Which pitcher is it?

A. Catfish Hunter

B. Chief Bender

C. Vida Blue

D. Mike Fiers

For the upcoming July 10 game against the Braves at Sutter Health Park, every fan in attendance will receive a Lawrence Butler bobblehead.

The bobblehead fittingly features Butler raising four fingers in the air as a tribute to Zone 4 -- the neighborhood in Southwest Atlanta where he first picked up a bat at the age of 3 and developed his love for baseball. Butler’s bobblehead giveaway will also fall on his birthday.

C. Vida Blue

• A's no-hitter history

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