Dan Jaffe enters the 2026 campaign as the Sun Devil Baseball Catching coach, where he continues in his main role of leading the development of the Sun Devil catchers.
In addition to his role as the catching coach, Jaffe assists with the development and management of the pitching staff, leads on-campus recruiting and scholarship management, has held off-campus recruiting responsibilities on numerous occasions, heads up the summer ball placement, holds the role of Camp Director, and also plays a coaching role in many other on-field development areas. He also continues in his role as the Director of Baseball Operations, overseeing the day-to-day operations of every aspect of the program, taking a leading role in fundraising, and both the enhancement and implementation of the state-of-the-art Whiteman Performance Pitching Lab.
In his time at Arizona State, he has led the development efforts of numerous catchers, including 2024 fourth-round draft pick Ryan Campos and current Sun Devil catcher Brody Briggs.
Prior to arriving in Phoenix, Jaffe spent the previous two seasons as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of the Pacific. At Pacific, he produced Top-100 recruiting classes for the 2022 and 2023 signing classes for the first time in program history. Jaffe oversaw the pitching staff and development with the Tigers, produced scouting reports, led all recruiting efforts and scholarship budgeting and also assisted with the day-to-day operations of the program.
Jaffe mentored 2022 MLB draftees Hunter Hayes (Cardinals, 16th Round) and Elijah Birdsong (Pirates, 18th Round). Hayes heads to the Cardinals after being one of the featured starters in the Tigers' rotation as a junior. The right-handed pitcher led the Tigers in starts (14), innings pitched (64.2) and strikeouts (55). He had five games with five or more strikeouts and touched the upper 90s with his fastball.
After working his way back from Tommy John surgery, Birdsong became the Tiger's opening day starter. He joins the Pirates after appearing in 11 games with nine starts and finished the season third in strikeouts (37) and third in innings pitched (44.1). Birdsong was also named to the Perfect Game All-WCC team before the season. It marked just the second time in Pacific program history that the team had two pitchers drafted in the first 20 rounds of the MLB Draft and the first time since 2001.
Prior to his time with Pacific, Jaffe spent two seasons as the volunteer assistant coach at Georgia Tech, where he worked with the pitchers, catchers, and coached first base. Georgia Tech was the No. 3 national seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2019 during Jaffe’s first season, where the team was the ACC Coastal Division Champions. Catcher Kyle McCann was named a 2019 Buster Posey Award finalist for the top catcher in the nation under Jaffe’s tutelage.
At Georgia Tech, Jaffe was heavily involved in the program’s scouting reports and game planning and assisted in all facets of the game. He also assisted heavily in recruiting on an NCAA Waiver from the summer and fall of 2019.
Jaffe was an associate scout for the San Diego Padres in the Fall of 2018 before joining the Yellow Jackets and was the catching coach for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the Cape Cod League that summer.
Jaffe spent two years with the College of Southern Nevada, which he also attended during his undergrad years. There, he was the catching coach, camp director and recruiting coordinator and helped guide the team to a 2017 Junior College World Series appearance.
Jaffe concluded his collegiate playing career as the team captain at Pacific University in Oregon and also spent time at the College of Southern Nevada and Villanova.
He is married to his wife, Kailey, and they have one daughter, Raegan