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\u201cDuring spring, I was like, \u2018Let\u2019s just do these things and let\u2019s not talk about what you used to do,\u2019\u201d Everidge said. \u201c\u2018Let\u2019s just move forward.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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Everidge said the biggest issue was that Cox tended to jump at pitches, so quieting him down was a key, \u201csettling and being behind the ball,\u201d Everidge said. \u201cLetting the ball come to him and driving it to the big part of the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two clicked and spent a lot of time talking about pitchers and Everidge encouraged Cox to think of them in various different buckets\u00a0\u2014 different types of pitchers might try one thing against him, others another.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be more like, \u2018This would be that right-center approach, get something out over the plate,\u2019 or \u2018With this guy\u2019s angle, we may have to beat it to the spot,\u201d Everidge said. \u201cJust a simple thought, not overthinking it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cox tore up the Eastern League, becoming the first player in the league to bat .400 through the first two months of the season since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with New Hampshire in 2018. Last Sunday, Cox became the first player the Giants had called up straight since Double-A since infielder Miguel G\u00f3mez in 2018.<\/p>\n
Everidge, in passing, had mentioned the possibility at one point, but knew it was wildly unlikely. Moving up to Sacramento, sure. Going straight to Colorado to join the big-league team, even as a reserve? Tough to imagine, even for a young man hitting .400\/.453\/.644 (with 27 steals to boot).<\/p>\n
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\u201cThat was crazy,\u201d Everidge said. \u201cWe\u2019d had that talk. I was like, \u2018Hey, man, the way you run the bases, the way you play the outfield, the way you\u2019re hitting, you could be one of those guys who makes the jump straight there, you never know.\u2019 Then when it happened, I was like, \u2018Oh my God. I was stunned for about 10 minutes, like, \u2018Holy crap! \u2019 Then I was hugging him. I\u2019m so happy for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thrilled beyond belief was a young area scout (Oklahoma, Texas) with the A\u2019s. Fletcher Byrd, 28, saw Cox, then something of an unknown, playing at Oral Roberts one October day in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in Tulsa, Oral Roberts was having a scrimmage and I just wanted to go in and see what they had,\u201d Byrd said. \u201cThey had a pitcher who wound up going to the Rockies, so I wanted to see him, and I was talking to Nolan Fanning, an assistant coach, and said, \u2018OK, what do you have? \u2019 He said, \u2018We\u2019ve got this kid from Eastern Oklahoma State, he\u2019s athletic, his dad played in the big leagues, he might be interesting.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNow 99% of the time, you\u2019re like, \u2018Eh, I don\u2019t know,\u2019 it doesn\u2019t really pan out. That\u2019s until Jonah walked out. He\u2019s 6-3, he\u2019s got the Hunter Pence look over his knees, so he\u2019s got the physicality check. He\u2019s dapping up all his teammates, looks like a lovely person to be around, so the makeup looks good. Then all of a sudden, he goes to the outfield and starts running down balls. I said, \u2018OK, wow. Check: defense.\u2019 He takes BP, he\u2019s just boom, pounding balls over the left-field wall, easy, power\u2019s there. And he gets into the game, hits a little dribbler to short, beats it out, I look down at my stopwatch and it\u2019s a seven run time.\u201d<\/p>\n
That a 70 on the scouting scale, meaning elite speed. Byrd got on the phone and sent word up the A\u2019s chain that Oral Roberts just might have a good draft target. Then Byrd went to a scrimmage at Oklahoma, but his first start had him running late\u00a0\u2014 so he had to fudge where he was to the other scouts, wanting to keep his find to himself.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThey\u2019re all like, \u2018What are you late for? \u2019 and I had to say, \u2018Just running late! Bad scout! \u2019 \u2018 Byrd said.<\/p>\n
The 2023 draft, then, was a biggie for Byrd, who\u2019d talked Cox up nonstop and had to cross his fingers that Eric Kubota and the A\u2019s front office would listen to him, and that Cox was still available where the team was willing to take him. Clubs were onto Cox; he\u2019d put together a 47-game hitting streak, third longest in NCAA history. Oral Roberts also went to the College World Series.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chances were slim,\u201d Byrd said. \u201cI was hoping, praying, begging. But I knew I\u2019d done the work. I\u2019d gotten in there early, and I give the A\u2019s scouting department so much credit, they trusted me. They went in there and were like, \u2018Fletcher\u2019s right. This kid can play a little.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just staring a hole in the draft board that day. His name\u2019s still up there! I haven\u2019t heard his name! Can we make this happen? \u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The A\u2019s took Cox in the sixth round, \u201cThe best day of my life,\u201d Byrd said. Then the team turned around and traded him to the Giants for Ross Stripling.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI was shocked,\u201d Byrd said, \u201cbut Stripling is a big-leaguer with a track record, and part of this job is to create value with the guys we sign, that\u2019s the main thing. And I knew he was going to a great organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Giants rookie Jonah Cox meeting scout Fletcher Byrd, the man who spotted him in college, in Milwaukee, Wisc. on June 2, 2026, days after Cox’s MLB debut.<\/p>\n
Susan Slusser<\/p>\n
Last Sunday might have supplanted draft day as the best day of Byrd\u2019s life. Cox is the first player Byrd has signed ever to make the big leagues, a huge deal for an amateur scout. To have a guy go up straight from Double-A? That\u2019s massive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Byrd was in Milwaukee to see Cox on Monday and Tuesday. They\u2019d never met in person; Oral Roberts limited scouts\u2019 contact to video calls. They finally met before Tuesday\u2019s game, big hugs, photos, grins.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncredible, just incredible,\u201d Byrd said. \u201cIt\u2019s a little bittersweet it\u2019s with the Giants, not the A\u2019s, but I\u2019m so happy for Jonah and his family.\u2019<\/p>\n
The chances are now that Cox, getting not a lot of playing time as the right-handed half of a platoon with lefty hitting Drew Gilbert, will get sent to Sacramento at some point to get more at-bats. Given his speed, his defensive ability and that newfound approach, though, he\u2019s definitely on the Giants\u2019 radar for a regular spot when needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d talk day in and day out about what it means to be a professional,\u201d Everidge said. \u201cAnd Jonah is the embodiment of that. He\u2019s dynamic. He\u2019s tremendous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Francisco Giants rookie outfielder Jonah Cox warms up before a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Monday,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":846899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[17492,346215,1266,1275,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-846898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-buster-posey","tag-jonah-cox","tag-mlb","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116699337014761670","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}