Josh Nashed is in his fourth season with the Gaels in 2023. In his first two full seasons leading the Gaels pitching staff, Saint Mary’s produced 6 MLB Draft picks on the mound including 3 top-10 round picks; good for 1st in the West Coast Conference and the best two-year span in program history. Gaels pitchers racked up a whopping $2.42 million in draft signing bonuses in that span.
"Coach Nashed is one of the top young pitching minds in the country. He mixes personal work-ethic with an old-school understanding of how to compete. That combined with touch for technology and development makes the future bright for Gaels on the mound,” head coach Greg Moore says of Nashed.
The 2022 MLB Draft marked the second straight season that 3 Gaels pitchers were selected. The draft class included Chris Campos (7th round), Sam Bower (11th round), and Chris Santiago (18th round).
Following the 2021 season, three of Nashed’s pitchers were taken in the MLB Draft: Ky Bush (2nd round, 45th overall), Michael Hobbs (10th round), and Carlos Lomeli (17th round). SMC was one of only 4 schools in California with multiple pitchers drafted in the top 10 rounds in 2021. Bush was just the fourth Gael in program history to be drafted in the first two rounds, and broke into the top-ten in SMC history in single season strikeouts. Hobbs became the Gaels all-time career saves leader (25).
Nashed led the 2021 Gaels pitching staff to a dominant campaign in which they finished first in the WCC in WHIP (16th nationally), Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio (24th nationally), and ERA (42nd nationally); and second in Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings (45th nationally). During the shortened 2020 campaign, the pitching staff posted a 3.06 team ERA and ranked 7th and 24th in the country with 2.49 Walks-Per-Nine and a 1.11 WHIP, respectively.
Nashed joined the Gaels in September of 2019 after spending two seasons as a RHP with the Cleveland Indians organization. Nashed was Cleveland’s 19th round selection in the 2017 MLB Draft.
A San Jose State University graduate, Nashed played for three seasons as a two-way player for the Spartans and was the Opening Day starting pitcher in both his sophomore and junior seasons. Nashed also appeared in a combined 89 games in the field, starting 40 games as the designated hitter, 13 in right field, 9 in left field, 7 at third base, 5 at first base, along with 15 pinch hit appearances.
"Saint Mary’s College is an unbelievable place to grow as a student-athlete," Nashed said. "The safety and small town feel of Moraga, paired with our proximity to everything the Bay Area offers, makes Saint Mary’s a special place to develop. Moraga is the best of both worlds for a Division 1 student-athlete."
Nashed holds a masters degree in Sports Management from Minot State University, and received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at San Jose State University where he was named a 3-time Academic All-Mountain West honoree and 2017 Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholar national award recipient.
A San Jose, Calif. native, Nashed attended Leland High School and led the Chargers to a CCS Open Division Championship in his senior season. In Leland’s 4 playoff games, Nashed collected 2 wins and 2 saves on the mound. He also hit .471 on the year while setting Leland’s single season hit record. Following his senior campaign, Nashed was named the San Jose Mercury News Player of the Year, BVAL Mount-Hamilton Division MVP, Cal-Hi Sports First Team All-State, MaxPreps First Team All-State, and Santa Clara County Hot Stove Player of the Year.
Josh’s grandfather moved to the United States from Cairo, Egypt in the early 1950’s. Josh is the only known player of Egyptian descent to play professional baseball outside of Pittsburgh Pirates 1982 1st rounder Sam Khalifa.
