The question posed to Cole Wilcox was direct and straight to the point: Has Georgia’s sophomore pitcher played his last game in a Bulldog uniform?
“I don’t know yet,” Wilcox said during a Zoom meeting Tuesday with reporters. “That’s something I won’t know until after the draft is over.”
On one hand, the choice would seem like an easy one. Wilcox is projected to go in the first round of Major League Baseball’s annual draft, set to get underway June 10 at 7 p.m.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s draft will only go five rounds instead of the usual 40. But that won’t be affecting Wilcox, or teammate Emerson Hancock, the latter being projected by many to go in the top five.
Although the junior Hancock appears a lock to sign, Wilcox's decision could be affected due to added leverage he has that his older teammate does not.
Wilcox is a draft-eligible sophomore, meaning he’s allowed to be taken this year due to the fact that his 21st birthday (July 14) will fall just a month after this year’s event.
A recent Baseball America mock draft has Wilcox going to the Atlanta Braves with the 25th overall pick, although others have him being selected a bit higher.
However, due to having two extra years of collegiate eligibility, it’s conceivable that Wilcox could ask for an even bigger signing bonus, and return to college for another season, if his number is not met.
Wilcox understandably wasn’t too revealing when asked to speculate on what his plans might be.
“It’s something where you’ve just got to figure out the details,” Wilcox said. “I’ll talk to my family, people I’m close with, do a lot of prayer, talk to a lot of people—people who are important to me—and get those details cranked out.”
The native of Chickamauga feels good about it either way.
“I look at it as a win-win,” he said. “Obviously, I love the University and the two years I’ve spent there. They’ve been two of the best years of my life, not only in baseball, but in growth as a person,” Wilcox said. “On the other side of it, you obviously have stuff that’s going to fulfill a lot of my dreams, so it’s a win-win for sure.”
If Wilcox were to come back to Georgia, it’s conceivable he could catapult himself into a top 15 pick come 2021, after going 3-0 with a 1.57 ERA. He struck out 32 batters in just 23 innings before the season was cancelled.
“With him being a draft-eligible sophomore, it puts him in a little bit different situation, so we’ll just have to wait and see,” Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin said. “I honestly feel like, if we had kept playing, he would have been a top 10 pick in the country. The way that he was pitching, he was pitching his way into that territory, and it’s unfortunate that it got cut off, but I know a lot of people really, really like him.”
The question is, how much will teams be willing to pay?
Wilcox will soon find out.
Meanwhile, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound right-hander continues to bide his time. Unlike many, Wilcox actually spent much of his time during the ongoing pandemic in Athens, using his spare time for fishing and golf leading into next week’s big day.
While he’s done some light throwing, much of Wilcox’s strength training has consisted of a program given to him and other players by baseball strength and conditioning coach Ryan Gearheart, as he waited to find out what his baseball future will be.
Even if he does sign, Wilcox faces the prospect of no baseball at all, considering there might not be a minor league season at all due to the ongoing effect of COVID-19.
“You don’t really want to think like that. But you’ve got to take into account with your schedule and your routine,” Wilcox said. “You’re still waiting on that final word. But even going into the fall at UGA, you hope they’ll get things worked out, and we’ll be able to have a fall season. It all works out; I think it will.”
