As Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets baseball coach Danny Hall enters his 31st season at the helm for the team, a looming question remains for his group for the 2025 season: can they fix the pitching problem from last season?
The Yellow Jackets had a successful 2024 season, making it to the NCAA tournament, but would eventually fall to the Georgia Bulldogs in extra innings in the regional finals. However, most of the team's success would come from when the team was hitting, and the pitching just wasn't enough to get the team over the hump.
As a team, the Yellow Jackets ranked 183rd in the country and 11th in the ACC out of 14 teams in ERA last season.
The Yellow Jackets are losing the two players that led the team in ERA last season, first baseman/pitcher Cam Jones, who led the team in ERA last season at 5.31, and pitcher Aeden Finateri, who finished with a 6.24 ERA last season.
A new rotation of pitchers will take over the mound for the Yellow Jackets this season, as four of the six players that led the team in starts last season will not suit up for the team this season. Tate McKee and Carson Ballard will be the only two frequent starters from last season returning to the Yellow Jackets.
The Yellow Jackets did bring in a few transfer pitchers this offseason that have had success at their previous school, such as former Citadel pitcher Sam Swygert, who has made at least 17 appearances in each of the last three seasons, and has a sub-6.00 ERA. Jaylen Paden is another pitcher that the Yellow Jackets brought in in the offseason from Georgia Southern, where he has started 18 games for the Eagles over the past two seasons.
The Yellow Jackets are set to start the season on Feb. 14 in a series against the Old Dominion Monarchs.