Washington State officially names Nathan Choate as new baseball coach

PULLMAN – Washington State announced the hiring of Nathan Choate as its next baseball coach.

Choate’s hiring was first reported last week, but WSU made it official Friday.

Choate, who spent the past four seasons as head coach at Loyola Marymount, will be introduced at 1 p.m. Thursday during a welcoming event in the Alger Family Club Room at Gesa Field.

“WSU Baseball is our oldest and most storied program,” WSU athletic director Pat Chun said in a news release. “Coach Nathan Choate is the exact fit we need to lead us into the next chapter of WSU Baseball. What he accomplished at LMU speaks for itself.”

The 44-year-old Choate earned West Coast Conference Coach of the Year honors last season after leading LMU to its first conference regular-season title in 25 years. The Lions went 29-24 overall and compiled a 21-6 record in WCC play, but bowed out of the conference tournament after two games. The Lions went 85-103 overall and 48-33 against WCC opponents during Choate’s tenure.

Choate is replacing Brian Green, who spent four years at WSU before leaving the program earlier this month to become the head coach at Wichita State.

A native of Yorba Linda, California, Choate pitched for Cal Poly in the early 2000s and began his coaching career as an assistant at Esperanza (Anaheim, California) High in 2005. He broke into the college ranks in 2007 as an assistant at UC Irvine, then worked with pitchers at UC Riverside (2008-11), Grand Canyon University (2012-16) and San Diego (2017-18) before taking an assistant position at LMU in 2019.

Choate landed his first head coaching job in June 2019 with LMU .

The Lions went 8-8 during Choate’s first year, the coronavirus-shortened 2020 season. LMU finished the 2021 season with a 28-37 overall record and went 13-14 in WCC play to finish sixth in the conference. The Lions also placed sixth in the WCC in 2022 after going 20-34-1 overall and 14-13 against WCC opponents.

Last year, two of Choate’s LMU players claimed All-America honors and five Lions earned all-conference accolades. LMU boasted the WCC’s pitcher of the year, defensive player of the year and freshman of the year.

Throughout his coaching career, Choate has mentored 25 players who were selected in the MLB draft, seven of whom were picked in the top 10 rounds. Ten of his players earned All-America honors. Two of them have been named WCC Pitcher of the Year. Choate has also been a part of two College World Series teams.

His LMU teams went 9-23-1 against Pac-12 opponents. Choate’s first win as a head coach came against the Washington Huskies.

“My family and I couldn’t be more excited to join the Washington State University family,” Choate said in a news release. “We look forward to earning the respect of past, current and future Cougs, as well as the Pullman community.”

The Cougars went 29-23 overall and 10-19 in the Pac-12 last season, placing 10th in the conference. Pitching was an issue under Green – especially in 2023 – but Choate specializes in that area of the game.

LMU’s pitching staff finished the 2023 season ranked sixth nationally in walks per nine innings and 26th in walk/strikeout ratio. Three Lions pitchers earned All-WCC honors.

In 2019, while serving as pitching coach at LMU, Choate helped the Lions’ staff finish 14th nationally in ERA. Five San Diego pitchers were selected in the MLB draft during Choate’s stint with the Toreros, who finished sixth nationally in strikeouts in 2017. Eleven UC Riverside pitchers were taken in the draft during Choate’s four-year stay with the Highlanders.

Retaining players will be a priority for Choate. Seven WSU players have entered the transfer portal over the past month – including starting infielder Elijah Hainline, a Spokane native who hit .337 with a team-high 12 home runs in 2023.

Choate will also spend the coming weeks building his staff, but he won’t need to find a new recruiting coordinator – Jake Valentine is reportedly staying on board for his second season as WSU’s recruiting coordinator, third-base coach and offensive assistant.