Mitchell Cole Wilcox (born July 14, 1999) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Tampa Bay Rays organization.

Amateur career

Wilcox attended Heritage High School in Ringgold, Georgia, where he played baseball, basketball, and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. He committed to play college baseball at the University of Georgia as a freshman. In 2018, his senior year, he went 9–2 with a 1.59 ERA, striking out 95 batters over innings. He was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 37th round of the

2018 Major League Baseball draft The 2018 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 4, 2018. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was determined based on the reverse order of the 2017 MLB season final standings. In a ...

, but did not sign and instead chose to fulfill his college commitment. In 2019, Wilcox's freshman year at Georgia, he appeared in 19 games (six starts) in which he went 3–2 with a 4.07 ERA, striking out 64 over innings. He specifically excelled during SEC play, compiling a 2.29 ERA and a .184 batting average against over innings pitched during conference play. He was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team. That summer, he played for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, and also played briefly for the

Orleans Firebirds The Orleans Firebirds, formerly the Orleans Cardinals, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Orleans, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Firebirds play t ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. Wilcox compiled a 3–0 record and a 1.57 ERA over four starts in 2020 before the college baseball season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professional career

San Diego Padres organization

Wilcox was considered a top prospect for the

2020 Major League Baseball draft The 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season ...

. He was selected by the San Diego Padres in the third round with the 80th overall selection. He signed with the Padres on June 30 for a $3.3 million

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

, a record among players drafted in the third round. He did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season caused by the pandemic.

Tampa Bay Rays organization

On December 29, 2020, Wilcox, along with Luis Patiño,

Blake Hunt Below is a partial list of minor league baseball players in the Tampa Bay Rays system: Players Mason Auer Mason Bradley Auer (born March 1, 2001) is an American professional baseball outfielder in the Tampa Bay Rays organization. Auer attended ...

, and Francisco Mejía, were traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for pitcher Blake Snell. To begin the 2021 season, he was assigned to the Charleston RiverDogs of the Low-A East. He was placed on the 10-day

injured list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

with an elbow strain on July 19, and transferred to the 60-day injured list on August 9, effectively ending his season. Over ten starts prior to the injury, Wilcox was 1-0 with a 2.03 ERA, striking out 52 batters over innings. He underwent

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's bo ...

in early September. Wilcox was activated off the injured list in early August 2022 and made seven appearances between the Rookie-level

Florida Complex League Rays The Florida Complex League Rays are a minor league baseball team in Port Charlotte, Florida, competing as a Rookie-level team in the Florida Complex League as an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coas ...

and Charleston. Over seven starts between the two teams, he went 0-2 with a 3.94 ERA and 24 strikeouts over 16 innings.

References

External links

Georgia Bulldogs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilcox, Cole 1999 births Living people Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Baseball pitchers Georgia Bulldogs baseball players Orleans Firebirds players United States national baseball team players Charleston RiverDogs players