Jump's electric stuff, 'it factor' marking A's rookie's fast ascent

WEST SACRAMENTO -- One of the duties that entails the role of an ace is being the stopper when a team is on a losing skid.

Gage Jump may not hold that ace title just yet for the Athletics, but he sure looked the part when they needed a pick-me-up in the aftermath of back-to-back losses. Opening up a four-game series against the Angels at Sutter Health Park Thursday night, the 23-year-old rookie set the right tone in a 5-0 victory by shutting down the Halos across seven innings.

Rated the A’s No. 3/MLB No. 38 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Jump -- a Competitive Balance Round B selection (No. 73 overall) in the 2024 MLB Draft out of LSU -- became the first A’s pitcher to go six-plus innings with one or fewer runs allowed in at least three of his first five career appearances since Paul Blackburn in 2017.

"When we watched him pitch and targeted him in the Draft, we were excited about his future,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “We felt like he had all the tools to be a guy in the top end of the rotation. To do it so quickly and understand how soft contact early helps, he’s showing all the things you need to get deep into games.”

A five-run first inning by the A’s offense on the strength of back-to-back homers by Shea Langeliers and Tyler Soderstrom allowed Jump to settle in and attack all night. The left-hander retired 11 of his first 13 batters faced and did not allow his first -- and only -- hit of the night until Oswald Peraza’s two-out double in the fourth, which was quickly mitigated one batter later with a strikeout of Christian Moore on a 97.3 mph fastball.

Jump finished his night with 107 pitches, the highest total by any A’s starter so far this season, and seemingly got stronger as the outing went on.

With his pitch count approaching triple digits entering the seventh, Jump was visibly frustrated after issuing a leadoff walk to Vaugh Grissom, which prompted reliever Mason Barnett to start getting loose in the A’s bullpen. Jump’s response: consecutive swinging strikeouts of Peraza and Moore on a pair of nasty curveballs, with the final out coming as a result of Grissom getting picked off by Langeliers at first base.

"To go over the 100-pitch mark and still be punching guys out, it shows he’s got that competitive edge,” Langeliers said of Jump. “He’s got that kind of ‘it factor' to him. He wants to go deep into games for us and help us win.”

There were understandable nerves Jump was battling in his Major League debut on May 26, which resulted in four runs allowed over five innings against the Mariners. Since then, Jump has been one of MLB’s top starters in June, holding a 1.42 ERA (four earned runs across 25 1/3 innings) in four starts.

“I’ve just learned a lot over this last month,” Jump said. “If I don’t have a pitch that certain day, I know I have weapons that can still get guys out. I was happy tonight with using my weapons against all right-handed hitters. They didn’t put any lefties in the lineup, so it was a good challenge.”

With an electric fastball that maxed out at 97.9 mph, along with strong secondary pitches in his slider and curveball, the arsenal is there for Jump to rack up high strikeout numbers.

That will come with time. For now, the young southpaw is thriving by getting ahead in the count -- he threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of 24 batters faced -- and generating weak contact, allowing an average exit velocity of just 88.3 mph on 14 batted-ball events Thursday night.

Opposing hitters are also just struggling to barrel up anything against Jump, who has yet to surrender a home run to his first 118 batters faced. Per Elias, that’s the longest stretch of consecutive batters without allowing a home run by an A’s pitcher to begin their career since Lucas Erceg, who went 165 batters before his first homer allowed on Aug. 11, 2023.

Accolades are great, but Jump is all about winning. He made that clear after his first start, which made his Triple-A stint earlier this year so frustrating for him as he went winless for Las Vegas. In the big leagues, however, the A’s are now 4-1 in his starts.

"Right when I got called up, [Triple-A pitching coach] Paul Abbott told me I’ll have a lot of wins soon,” Jump said. “I don’t know if I believed him, but I took his word. Now that we’re winning ballgames I’m pitching in, that’s all I can ask for.”