Austin Cox embraces new mindset, contract

When the ball left Cleveland third baseman Jose Ramirez’s bat one balmy summer night in Kansas City last summer, the man who threw the pitch felt a pang within.

On that swing of the stick and subsequent rounding of bases, Macon native Austin Cox — in the third inning of his first-ever MLB start — finally felt the pressure of the next level, “the Show,” as it’s called. The intense feeling of being not just a pitcher, but a starting pitcher, at the major league level hit him.

It may have just been another home run for the MVP-caliber Ramirez when he hit a grand slam off Cox. But for the former FPD and Mercer pitcher, it elicited a thought common among pitchers early in their careers.

“It just makes you say, ‘Oh man, these guys are good,’” Cox told The Melody recently. “It hit me hard. It dawned on me, like, ‘You’re really at the major league level.’”

It’s one of his earliest distinct MLB memories, if not the first. The 12 and ⅓ scoreless innings he pitched as a reliever that preceded Ramirez’s tater — innings that set a Major League record to start a career and drew national attention — were a blur.

Cox remembers the bullpen gates opening as he readied to trot to a big-league mound for the first time, then little else, aside from the fact that he could not feel his leg when he raised it to deliver the ball for the first time.

Cox remembers other things about that scoreless stretch, though, and more about his career as a whole, his life, that define him.

A new state of mind

Key among Cox’s memories is another feeling.

It’s the feeling Cox had during 2023 spring training: carefree, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, he says. His mindset was changed because he’d just found that his wife Hope, who he married near the end of 2022, was pregnant.

The revelation changed him. Cox’s hard work to that point — grinding through high school and college ball before pushing his way up the minor league ranks — surely played a role in the ensuing spring emergence, but there was still a stark difference that Cox believes, more than a year later, came from the knowledge that he would soon have a son.

His approach changed. News outlets noted his newfound penchant for attacking hitters, and the on-field results improved. Before he knew it, Cox had reached the majors, and he had his family to thank for it.

“I met Hope here in Kansas City, and eventually we just figured if we were going to pursue a future, I needed to move here. And that helped me settle in a lot,” Cox said. “Then we were married, and we’ve been lucky to have our son Cooper as well. All those things are reasons why I’ve made it as far as I have.”

The mindset change was similar to one he had in high school that he says gave him the competitive edge to get drafted and adjust as a player. Cox, ever the athlete, was also a quarterback on the FPD Vikings varsity team, but he was not starting.

“I had a lot of trouble processing that, because I was really competitive,” Cox said. “I was still working hard, but it just wasn’t happening. We had a really good quarterback, and I just wasn’t better than him.”

One day at a practice before his senior season, the understudy quarterback was casually throwing practice balls. Then-football coach and FPD lifer Greg Moore walked over and watched for a minute, then piped up with an unexpected suggestion.

“You know the routes,” he told Cox, “Why don’t you line up and run them?”

In the blink of an eye, the hyper-competitive Cox was a starting wide receiver for the Vikes.

“That just changed my head, similar to what happened a few years later at spring training, because it taught me to adapt. You have to adjust to things and really just make the most of whatever situation you’re in,” he said.

The experience helped him keep a level head through college ball at Mercer, then played a huge role in his transition from starting pitcher to reliever.

“When I was first coming in, obviously I started some, and the pitching coaches told me I had to tone it down so much, because I was coming out angry at everything as a starter,” Cox said. “I learned to adapt to being a reliever, and that fit way better. I could just come out on fire every time.”

Cox did come out on fire. Even after the scoreless inning streak was snuffed out by Ramirez’s home run, Cox continued on as a reliever for Kansas City, finding what seemed to be a long-term home on the roster there.

Then, near the end of 2023, not long before Cooper was born, Cox would have another seismic shift in his career.

Road to recovery

Cox tore his ACL and damaged his MCL in an attempt to cover first base Sept. 8 in Toronto. It ended his season and, most suspected, would cut into a not insignificant part of his 2024 season as well.

“I think Hope was about to leave on this big vacation she had planned with some people here. They had planned it all out, but then the injury in Toronto happened,” Cox said. “She canceled and was there for me. She was right there when I got off the plane.”

Again, the 27-year-old credits his wife with helping him, this time through what was a difficult recovery process — one made even trickier to navigate by the birth of their son in November.

“You have a kid, you’re supposed to be taking care of him, and I’m over here hobbling around the house,” Cox said. “I’m grateful she helped me so much. I think it’s a big reason I recovered as fast as I did.”

His injury actually led to the Royals leaving him exposed in MLB’s Rule 5 draft that offseason, and after he cleared that the young hurler was briefly a free agent before the Royals re-signed him to a minor league deal.

Cox made his way back and started rehabbing his injury in the minors in April, performing decently as a reliever but not getting the call to the majors.

“We had this date on the contract, the opt-out date,” he said of an option in the contract to become a free agent if he hadn’t reached the majors by a certain time. “The longer we thought about it, the bigger my main goal seemed. I just want to play at the big league level.”

While his bout of free agency lasted only about a week, Cox said it was all about trying to make a big league roster. The Royals inked him to another minor league deal after a contract with another team failed to materialize, but the goal remains clear.

Thrive as a family, make it back to the top level.

“That’s what it’s about. I don’t blame the Royals, they’re competing this year. They’ve been a great team,” Cox said of not being on the 40-man roster. “But I’m going to work as hard as I can to prove I belong there.”