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PHOENIX \u2014 There are many recognizable last names at the annual MLB Draft Combine. Most, however, belong to the brothers, sons or nephews of current or former big-league stars.<\/p>\n
One look around Chase Field last week, where the combine took place, and you saw Pettitte, Kemp, Sabathia, Thome and Bonds, among others, on the backs of the participants\u2019 grey shirseys.<\/p>\n
Then there was Codey Gauff \u2014 a relative of a different variety. One that surprises people enough to ask him in near perpetuity if he is, in fact, a family member of the 22-year-old tennis phenom, and two-time Grand Slam champion, Coco Gauff.<\/p>\n
Many of the players asked him. So did the scouts he talked to, and the teams that interviewed him. You can\u2019t talk to or about Codey, without mentioning Coco, who is, in fact, Codey\u2019s older sister.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, I\u2019m myself,\u201d Codey, a catching prospect from Elite Squad Baseball Academy in Delray, Fla., told The Athletic.<\/i> \u201cI want to keep doing my name for myself. She\u2019s worldwide, so obviously people are going to ask. I\u2019m not ashamed of it or anything. If anything, it\u2019s just, being the next up in the family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Codey, four years his sister\u2019s junior, has been on this ride, proudly supporting Coco during her late childhood rise, which has only continued into early adulthood \u2014 shining an intense spotlight on the Gauff family.<\/p>\n
Though Codey has a famous last name, he wants to forge his own path in baseball, where he is considered a legit prospect. Receiving an invitation to the combine, where most of the top draft prospects go to meet with and work out for teams, was one of his biggest baseball moments and was serendipitous timing. It came just a week before his sister\u2019s return to the grass courts at Wimbledon<\/a>, the tournament that turned her into a star seven years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cShe wants me to go as far as I can,\u201d Codey said. \u201cIt\u2019s a blessing to have siblings playing at the next level and striving for the same dreams. A lot of guys don\u2019t have the same opportunity as their siblings. We\u2019re both striving to be something great.\u201d<\/p>\n Codey, an athletic switch-hitter with a strong throwing arm, is committed to the University of Missouri. His attendance at the combine leaves open the possibility that Gauff will forgo college if taken at a good spot in the draft and turn pro this summer.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI want to play in the big leagues, whichever route that takes me,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n He\u2019s largely played travel and academy baseball, rather than having the traditional high school baseball experience. He posted a near .500 on-base percentage for the ESB Academy this season, and was named their league\u2019s MVP.<\/p>\n \u201cI get it, but I don\u2019t want him to be known as Coco Gauff\u2019s brother,\u201d said Missouri head coach Kerrick Jackson. \u201cI want him to be known as Codey Gauff, the catcher that is coming to Missouri as a freshman. \u2026 It\u2019s something that he\u2019s dealt with his entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n Jackson, who first recruited Codey at a showcase two years ago, said he\u2019s never brought up Codey\u2019s sister with him. He knows the immense respect Codey has for her, admires that, and said he\u2019s planning to ask his new catcher how he deals with balancing it all when Codey arrives on campus later this fall.<\/p>\n While Coco may be the more well-known of the siblings right now, Coco has openly discussed how she has leaned on Codey for support over the years. When Coco was on the verge of her first Grand Slam championship at the 2023 U.S. Open, one match away from finishing off her lifelong dream, her brother was there to give her a mental reset.<\/p>\n She was feeling the pressure of needing just two more sets, one more match. The thought of it being so close was working against her.<\/p>\n \u201cHe told me, \u2018Pretend that you have to win three sets instead of two. If you put your mindset into the extra mile, then it seems easier, I guess, in a way,\u2019\u201d Coco said at the 2024 Australian Open.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018If you want to win the Grand Slam, say you have to win eight matches instead of seven. It\u2019s like changing your mindset so it feels further.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s given advice to him, as well, about not putting his opponents on a pedestal, and reminding him of how important it is for a catcher to take on a leadership role. The support has gone both ways, and when Codey announced his commitment to Mizzou, Coco called him \u201cMy GOAT, my inspiration, my reason, my best friend,\u201d on Instagram.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n