Jackson Abernathy - Baseball Coach - Grand Canyon University Athletics

Jackson Abernathy

Title:
Director of Player Development and Analytics
Email:
jackson.abernathy@gcu.edu

Jackson Abernathy joined the Grand Canyon baseball staff as director of player development and analytics in July 2026, bringing a data-driven player development and scouting background to the Lopes.

Abernathy came to GCU after serving as Kennesaw State’s director of analytics during the 2025-26 season, following two seasons as a pitcher for the Owls. In his role at Kennesaw State, Abernathy worked closely with the coaching staff to support player development, scouting, game planning and performance analysis.

Abernathy built models and applications to help players and coaches better understand pitching, hitting and scouting information. His work included Shiny and Streamlit applications for pitch analysis and swing-decision evaluation, pitcher cards, batter dashboards and scouting tools using TrackMan and TruMedia data.

His path into analytics began as a high school pitcher, when he became interested in TrackMan data and began teaching himself coding and data analysis. With no formal coding background at the time, Abernathy used online resources to learn programming and eventually became fluent in Python, allowing him to build tools that simplified large amounts of baseball data into usable information.

At Kennesaw State, Abernathy created an app that allowed coaches and players to filter pitching data by individual pitchers and specific date ranges through a simple link, helping turn raw data into a more efficient, player-friendly resource. His work helped bridge the gap between complex analytics and on-field performance.

Abernathy also spent the summer of 2026 as an assistant pitching coach with the Hyannis Harbor Hawks of the Cape Cod Baseball League, gaining additional player-development experience in one of the nation’s premier summer collegiate leagues.

Before moving into a staff role, Abernathy pitched for Kennesaw State during the 2024 and 2025 seasons. He appeared in 20 games for the Owls and totaled 23 innings. His experience as a Division I pitcher helped shape his interest in player development and his ability to communicate analytical information in a way that connects with players.

A native of Sugar Hill, Georgia, Abernathy attended North Gwinnett High School before enrolling at Kennesaw State, where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business administration.