Texas A&M has reportedly poached a sitting Big Ten head coach for the role of its pitching coach, with Jason Kelly set to be tapped for that role according to Baseball America’s Teddy Cahill.
Kelly has spent the last two seasons as Washington’s head coach, where he compiled a 54-51-1 (.509) overall record and a a 27-32 (.458) record in Pac-12 play.
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He does have previous experience coaching with new Texas A&M coach Michael Earley, with the two spending a stint together at Arizona State. Earley was with the Sun Devils as an assistant coach from 2017-21, while Kelly was there from 2020-21.
Kelly has previous stints as the LSU pitching coach (2022), the Washington pitching coach (2013-19), the Cal Poly pitching coach (2007-12) and the Chico State pitching coach (2005-06). He was also an assistant coach at Cuesta in 2003.
The new Texas A&M pitching coach played in college at Cal Poly, Cuesta and Missouri Valley.
Can Texas A&M retain some talent?
The big question for Earley in the first few days of his tenure will be whether he can retain some of the top talent that hit the NCAA transfer portal following the departure of former coach Jim Schlossnagle for Texas.
Five starters from the NCAA title game early in the week entered the portal.
But at least one player is ready to give the Aggies another shot following the hire of Earley as the new head coach.
Texas A&M shortstop Ali Camarillo has withdrawn from the NCAA transfer portal, according to On3’s Pete Nakos.
Shortly after it became clear that Earley would be the Aggies’ new headman, D1 Baseball’s Kendall Rogers revealed that many of the Aggies who entered the portal after the Schlossnagle’s departure may return due to the popularity of the in-house hire.
Earley has spent the last three seasons serving as Texas A&M’s hitting coach, where he was instrumental to the Aggies’ collective batting efforts in 2024. Under his guide, no team in the country drew more walks (422) than the Aggies did last season while ranking in the top 10 in home runs (136) and total runs (575). They also averaged 8.5 runs per game last season.
The post Report: Texas A&M to hire Washington head coach Jason Kelly as new pitching coach appeared first on On3.
