PHOENIX — There are a lot of recognizable names at the annual MLB Draft. However, most of them belong to the brothers, sons or nephews of current or former major league stars.
A look at Chase Field last week, where the tournament took place, and you saw Pettitte, Kemp, Sabathia, Thom and Bonds, among others, on the backs of the participants’ gray jerseys.
Then there was Cody Gauff, a relative of a different sort. One that surprises people so much that they almost forever ask him if he is actually a member of the family of 22-year-old tennis phenom and two-time Grand Slam champion Coco Gauff.
Many players asked him. So did the scouts he talked to and the teams who interviewed him. You can’t talk to or about Cody without mentioning Coco, who is actually Cody’s older sister.
“At the end of the day, I am me,” said Cody, a prospect from the Elite Squad Baseball Academy in Delray, Florida. Athletic. “I want to continue to make a name for myself. She’s known all over the world, so obviously people will ask. I’m not ashamed of it or anything. If anything, it’s just being next in the family.”
Cody, who is four years younger than his sister, was on the trip, proudly supporting Coco through her late childhood, which only continued into her early adulthood, bringing the Gauff family into the spotlight.
Although Cody has a famous last name, he wants to forge his own path in baseball where he is considered a legitimate prospect. Getting an invitation to the combine, where most of the top players in the draft come to meet and work out with teams, was one of his proudest baseball moments and a lucky break. It came just a week before his sister returned to the grass courts at Wimbledon, the tournament that turned her into a star seven years ago.
“She wants me to go as far as I can,” Cody said. “It’s a blessing to have siblings play at the next level and strive for the same dreams. A lot of guys don’t have the same opportunities as their siblings. We both strive to be something great.”
Cody, an athletic hitter with a strong throwing arm, attends the University of Missouri. His presence at the plant leaves open the possibility that Gauff will forgo college if he is taken well in the draft and turn pro this summer.
“I want to play in the big leagues, no matter what path I choose,” he said.
He primarily played travel and collegiate baseball rather than having a traditional high school baseball experience. He posted a nearly .500 on-base percentage for ESB Academy this season and was named league MVP.
“I understand, but I don’t want to be called Coco Gauff’s brother,” Missouri head coach Kerrick Jackson said. “I want him to be known as Cody Gauff, the catcher who comes to Missouri as a freshman… That’s what he’s done his whole life.”
Jackson, who first invited Cody to the presentation two years ago, said he never told him about Cody’s sister. He knows how much respect Cody has for her, admires it, and said he plans to ask his new catcher how he’s handling it all when Cody arrives on campus later this fall.
While she may be the more famous of the siblings now, Coco has openly discussed how she has leaned on Cody for support over the years. When Coco was on the verge of her first Grand Slam championship at the 2023 US Open and one match away from completing her lifelong dream, her brother was there to give her a mental reset.
She felt the pressure because she only needed two more sets, one more match. The thought of it being so close worked against her.
“He told me, ‘Imagine you have to win three sets instead of two. If you go the extra mile, I think in some ways it will seem easier,” Coco said at the 2024 Australian Open.
“If you want to win a Grand Slam, let’s say you need to win eight matches instead of seven. It’s like changing your mindset so that it’s felt further.”
She also gave him advice on not putting his opponents on a pedestal and reminded him of how important it is for a catcher to take on a leadership role. The support was mutual, and when Cody announced his commitment to Mizzou, Coco called him on Instagram “My GOAT, my inspiration, my mind, my best friend.”
Cody watches all of his sister’s matches, no matter what time of day they take place. He certainly watched as Coco was nearly upset at Wimbledon in the second round on Wednesday. She needed to come back from a breakdown late in the third set and then again from a deep hole in the final set tiebreaker.
It was in 2019 that the then 15-year-old phenom came out of nowhere to win six matches at Wimbledon. Three in qualifying, three more in the main draw, including her emphatic victory over her idol Venus Williams.
“She upset the world there,” Cody said, smiling as he contemplated escape.
Now, all these years later, the siblings who supported her have grown up and made a name for themselves. Their parents, Corey and Candy, are pulled in all directions: their father was in Phoenix last week with Cody, and their mother with their little brother Cameron. Coco, at least for a while, was alone in England.
Cody hopes he’ll be the next to make the family name famous. But, he says, neither he nor his sister will end up being the most successful athletes in the family.
“I think my brother is going to be the best athlete out of all of us,” Cody said of Cameron, 13, who plays soccer.
“He doesn’t really have any other choice.”