SAN DIEGO — San Diego baseball and head coach Brock Ungricht on Friday announced the additions of one of the West Coast's most accomplished recruiters and one of its fastest-rising pitching minds, welcoming Jake Silverman and Nathan Bannister to the Torero coaching staff.

"I'm excited to bring Jake and Nathan into the San Diego baseball family," Ungricht said. "They bring a wealth of experience across all levels of baseball, from the highest echelons of the college game all the way to the pros. Jake and Nathan have proven track records of success in recruiting and player development, and their core values and work ethic are well-aligned with our program and university. I know that both of them will work tirelessly to uphold San Diego baseball's championship standard while doing everything they can to support our student athletes on and off the field."

Silverman comes to Alcalá Park from TCU, where he joined the program in the summer of 2024 as director of program development. In his first season with the Horned Frogs, he helped guide TCU to the Big 12 Championship game and an NCAA Regional berth while making his mark on the recruiting trail, assisting on a class that ranked 13th nationally according to Baseball America — the highest-ranked group in the Big 12.

Prior to TCU, Silverman served as the associate head coach at Washington, where the Huskies went 54-50-1 during his tenure. He was a central figure in Washington's recruiting efforts, twice enticing athletes to campus despite being selected in the MLB Draft, along with landing the No. 3-ranked prep recruit in the state of Washington.

Silverman joined the Huskies from Cal Poly, where he spent three seasons as an assistant coach in charge of the pitching staff. Before Cal Poly, he coached at Cal State Fullerton, UCLA and Nevada over an 11-year span.

During four seasons at Nevada, Silverman served as recruiting coordinator while working with the catchers and assisting with hitting and base running. Before Reno, he spent five seasons (2011-15) at UCLA as an assistant to the pitching coach, helping the Bruins compile a 202-103-1 record with four postseason appearances and two trips to the College World Series, including the program's national championship season in 2013. He began his coaching career as an undergraduate assistant at Cal State Fullerton (2009-10), where the Titans appeared in the 2009 College World Series, advanced to the 2010 NCAA Super Regionals and posted a 36-9 record in league play across his two seasons.

A 2005 graduate of Foothill High School in Santa Ana, California, Silverman played at Fullerton College, batting .350 as a freshman in 2006 and earning the program's Art Nunn Award in 2007. He earned an associate's degree from Fullerton College before completing a bachelor's degree in communications from Cal State Fullerton in 2009.

Bannister arrives in San Diego after four seasons at Grand Canyon, where he served as the Lopes' pitching coach beginning in July 2022 and stepped in as the program's interim head coach on March 27, 2026.

In Bannister's first two seasons on staff, Grand Canyon won back-to-back WAC regular-season championships, and in 2024 the Lopes claimed the program's first NCAA Tournament victory at the Division I level — defeating No. 15 Arizona, his alma mater, 9-4 before beating No. 25 Dallas Baptist 12-10 to advance to a regional final.

His first GCU staff closed the 2023 regular season with a 2.84 ERA over the final 12 games — all wins — while producing All-WAC selections in first-teamer Daniel Avitia and second-teamers Zach Thornton and Brodie Cooper-Vassalakis. Thornton went on to be a fifth-round pick of the New York Mets that summer, while right-hander Cody Tucker signed a free-agent deal with the San Francisco Giants. Bannister joined Grand Canyon from the Seattle Mariners organization, where he most recently served as pitching coach for the Modesto Nuts.

A Phoenix native, Bannister pitched at the University of Arizona from 2013 to 2016, going 19-7 with a 3.22 ERA across 245 2/3 career innings in 61 appearances and 27 starts. As a senior in 2016, he was a workhorse for the Wildcats, going 12-2 with a 2.59 ERA in 142 1/3 innings while helping lead Arizona back to the College World Series. A 28th-round selection of the Seattle Mariners in the 2016 MLB Draft, he reached Triple-A Tacoma by his sixth professional appearance and made 54 starts across two pro seasons.

A standout at Liberty High School in Peoria, Arizona, Bannister was the 2012 Arizona Republic Big Schools Player of the Year and a USA Today All-USA second-team selection. He graduated from Arizona in 2016.

San Diego baseball will begin its 2027 season in February.