Head Coach Jay Johnson is fresh off of a National Championship and having to replace Wes Johnson as he moves on to Georgia as Head Coach. Jay is bringing in a familiar face from his days at Arizona in his former pitching coach Nate Yeskie. He was most recently at Texas A&M . Here is what Johnson had to say in a press release “I couldn’t be more excited to add Nate Yeskie as our new pitching coach,” Johnson said. “Nate has an unmatched track record in college baseball for pitching coaches relative to developing pitching talent for professional baseball, College World Series trips, and winning in general. His coaching acumen is very complete and current, and future pitchers at LSU will develop to their highest potential because of the opportunity to work with Coach Yeskie. We will take a look at some of his career stops and pitchers he developed.
Oregon State - 11 Seasons as Pitching Coach
At Oregon State Yeskie was named to the nation’s top pitching coach by Collegiate Baseball after the 2013 season. His staff posted a 2.28 ERA and 12 shutouts in helping the Beavers to a school-record 52 wins and a berth in the College World Series. The Beavers won the 2018 College World Series under Yeskie's tutelage. named to the nation’s top pitching coach by Collegiate Baseball . He then was awarded the 2017 Assistant Coach of the Year by D1Baseball.com and the Pitching Coach of the Year per Collegiate Baseball in 2019, Oregon State’s pitchers have been drafted a total of 28 times during his tenure, with 16 coming in the top nine rounds.
All Americans
2009: Sam Gaviglio (Freshman)
2010: Matt Boyd (Freshman)
2011: Sam Gaviglio
2012: Jace Fry (Freshman)
2013: Andrew Moore (Freshman & Overall), Matt Boyd
2014: Jace Fry, Ben Wetzler
2015: Andrew Moore, Drew Rasmussen (Freshman), Mitch Hickey (Freshman)
2016: Bryce Fehmel (Freshman & Overall)
2017: Luke Heimlich, Jake Thompson, Jake Mulholland (Freshman & Overall), Brandon Eisert (Freshman)
2018: Luke Heimlich, Bryce Fehmel, Jake Mulholland, Kevin Abel (Freshman of the Year)
Arizona - 2 Seasons as Pitching Coach
Yeskie spent two seasons at Arizona with Jay Johnson where they won 1 Pac-12 title and made one appearance at the College World Series in Omaha. In his first season with Arizona they saw drastic changes in their pitching staffs production. His staff lowered their ERA from 6.21 to 3.87, while raising their K/9 rate from 7.52 to 10.80, improved their opponent batting average from .287 to .212, and dropped their WHIP from 1.75 to 1.30.
Texas A&M - 2 Seasons as Associate Head Coach
In his two seasons at Texas A&M their staff was pretty much a middle of the pack producing staff. Nothing that would wow you but nothing that would totally let you down. They made it to Omaha in 2022, making it 3 teams he had now taken to Omaha as the pitching coach. In 2023 their pitching staff regressed in most statistical category.
In total Yeskie has made 5 trips to Omaha with three different teams, with one national championship and one runner up. I expect he will do big things with a pitching staff that has so much potential .
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