Nathan Choate begins his second year as the Washington State Head Baseball Coach after being named the 18th head baseball coach in program history June 23, 2023.
In his first season leading Washington State Baseball, Choate guided the Cougars to the Round Rock Classic title after posting wins over No. 24 Kentucky and Kansas in Texas while four players were named to the All-Tournament Team led by first baseman Joey Kramer who was named the Round Rock Classic MVP. Choate also saw his club sweep Arizona State for the second time in program history and recorded their first win at UCLA since 2014 and first win at Stanford since 2016. The Cougar defense reached new heights under Choate, turning the second-most double plays (50) in the Pac-12 Conference and posted a .976 fielding percentage, the third-best mark in program history. Choate saw three players earn All-Pac-12 honors led by ace righthander Grant Taylor who finished the season with 99 strikeouts, the seventh-most in WSU single-season history while his 76 strikeouts in conference play led the league.
In the classroom, the Cougars earned ABCA Academic Excellence accolades after setting program records with a 3.32 team GPA in the fall semester and a 3.29 overall team GPA for the school year. WSU also set a program record with five CSC Academic All-District selections while 17 were named to the WSU President’s Honor Roll and 12 earned Pac-12 Spring Academic Honor Roll honors.
Choate arrived at WSU after leading Loyola Marymount to a West Coast Conference title this past season while guiding the Lions to new heights in his four seasons leading the program. Choate was named the 2023 WCC Coach of the Year after leading LMU to their first outright regular season title in 25 years with a 29-24 mark including an impressive 21-6 record in conference play, four games ahead of second-place Portland, and swept four WCC series. Choate coached a pair of Lions to All-America honors while five players earned All-WCC honors in addition to the WCC Pitcher of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
Choate’s 2023 LMU club tallied road wins at Vanderbilt and Oklahoma State, claimed six WCC Pitcher of the Week honors, one WCC Player of the Week and the pitching staff finished their season ranked sixth nationally in walks per nine innings and 26th nationally in walk to strikeout ratio. Choate coached three all-conference pitchers in 2023 led by ace Diego Barrera who earned All-America honors after going 8-2 with 93 strikeouts and a 2.17 ERA while Khadim Diaw earned Freshman All-America honors after hitting .314 with eight home runs, 11 doubles, two triples, 33 RBI, 47 runs scored and 66 hits. In the classroom, the Lions closed the 2023 season with a 3.18 team GPA including 24 players with a 3.0 or higher.
Throughout his coaching career, Choate has accumulated 25 players drafted in the MLB Draft, seven of which have been selected in the top-10 rounds, 10 All-Americans, two College World Series appearances, three Team USA pitchers, four Freshman All-Americans, two Big West Freshman Pitchers of the Year, two WCC Pitchers of the Year and nine All-Conference Pitchers. In the 2017 season with San Diego his team finished sixth in the country in strikeouts and his 2019 Lion pitching staff to the 14th best ERA in the nation.
The 2021 season saw the Lions open up with 14 straight games against the Pac-12, winning two weekend series including a three-game sweep of Utah and a road series win at Washington. In addition to his success against the Pac-12, the Lions won six of the nine weekend series versus the WCC. On the offensive end, LMU led the conference in triples with 15 and were among the WCC leaders in stolen bases and stolen bases per game. On the mound, Choate produced one of the most lethal end of game pitchers in Holden Christian who was named to the 2021 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division I West All-Region Second Team, finishing the year with three wins, four saves, and an ERA of 0.97. The Lions pitching staff had 342 strikeouts and four members posted an ERA of 3.43 or below.
In 2020, his first season at the helm of the Loyola Marymount Lions, Choate went 8-8 winning three of his first four weekend series including a sweep of San Jose State. Under Choate’s direction the Lions pitching staff posted an ERA of 4.07 had a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.61, which ranked third in the WCC.
Offensively, LMU led the WCC and ranked 25th nationally in stolen bases with 32 and set the school record for steals in a game with eight at UC Davis on March 1, 2020. Choate’s aggressiveness on the bases was aided by the Lions discipline at the plate resulting in 84 free passes which also led the conference.
Choate’s first win came in his first game leading LMU when they beat the Washington Huskies 7-1. In 2020 he also took part in the second-longest game in NCAA history in both time and length with a 24 inning, six hour and thirty minute contest on Feb. 28 – 29 at UC Davis. In the game LMU set the school record for at-bats with 79 and Trevin Esquerra tied the NCAA record and set the Lions record for at-bats with 11.
In 2019 the Lions finished with a 34-25 overall mark, won their first five series and secured a berth into the WCC Championship Tournament where they beat WCC regular season champions BYU before posting back-to-back victories over Saint Mary's to clinch their first WCC Championship Tournament Title. The Lions beat No. 24 Baylor and No. 11 UCLA in the NCAA Tournament before falling to the Bruins in the deciding game of the Los Angeles Regional. The Lions were able to nab six All-WCC selections with Codie Paiva being named WCC Pitcher of the Year.
Prior to his hiring in 2019, Choate spent the previous two years as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at WCC-rival San Diego. While with the Toreros, Choate helped guide USD to a combined 58-50-1 record. In his first season with San Diego in 2017, Choate's staff struck out 9.7 batters per nine innings to record the sixth-best rate in the nation and lead the WCC. Torero ace, Nick Sprengel, went 9-1 to tie a program record for win percentage and was named to the All-WCC First team. Chris Murphy was named to the Freshmen All-American team after striking out 11.61 batters per nine innings - the fifth-best rate in a single-season in program history. In his two seasons, five Torero pitchers were selected in the MLB Draft, including right-hander Paul Richan by the Chicago Cubs in the second round of the 2018 June Draft.
Before coming to USD, Choate had been the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Grand Canyon University for five years. While at GCU, he helped lead the 'Lopes to a DII World Series appearance and a WAC Championship while the school was transitioning to DI. Considered one of the top recruiters in the nation, Choate also spearheaded a top-35 ranked recruiting class in 2015.
Prior to his time at Grand Canyon, Choate spent four years at UC Riverside, where he served as the Highlanders' pitching coach and recruiting coordinator, helping 11 pitchers get drafted by MLB clubs, including Joe Kelly and Matt Andriese. Before UCR, Choate was the pitching coordinator for UC Irvine, which finished fourth at the 2007 College World Series.
Choate pitched collegiately at Cal Poly for two seasons, where he was awarded the Jim Newkirk Fireman's Award, given to the team's best relief pitcher, in his junior and senior seasons. He also pitched two seasons at Santa Ana Junior College in 1998 and 1999, helping the Dons to a third-place national finish in 1999.
Choate and his wife Lori have four children, Kamdyn, Chance, Kyla and Kacey.
