Jonah Cox of the San Francisco Giants bats against the Sacramento River Cats during the ninth inning of an exhibition game at Sutter Health Park on March 22 in Sacramento.
Scott Marshall/Getty Images
The reeling San Francisco Giants, losers of 10 consecutive division games and in danger of falling into last place, made a bold move Sunday, calling up the organization’s top hitter — from Double A.
Outfielder Jonah Cox, 24, was hitting .400 at Richmond, the top mark in pro baseball from Class A on up. The Giants haven’t called up a player straight from Double A for many years; some of the more high-profile players to make the jump include third baseman Pablo Sandoval in 2008 and infielder Matt Duffy in 2014.
“I was definitely surprised,” Cox told the Chronicle. “We had a team meeting, and it was just kind of like talking about like not getting thrown out, like ‘Don’t get on the umpires, try and act like a big leaguer.’ And that then kind of led into saying I was getting called up.
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“Everyone went nuts. I somehow got drenched in water. It was a blast.”
Cox, whose father, Darren, was a catcher with the Expos, had a league-leading 1.097 OPS at Richmond. Making things all the more exciting for Cox and his family, he’s from nearby Westminster, Colo., 20 miles from Denver, and his family was scheduled to be on hand for Sunday’s game.
Cox was not in the lineup, however; he had a difficult travel day, with a delayed flight from Akron, Ohio that meant he spent the night at O’Hare International Airport before getting to Denver at 7 a.m., otherwise he probably would have been in the lineup against the Rockies.
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“We did look at the lineup for a long time last night, just: What’s any one thing that maybe can again inject fresh blood or make today a little more exciting? And him being in there was a possibility until that flight,” said manager Tony Vitello, who would like to get Cox into the game at some point. “It’s just the travel got a little too crazy, but also we like what we got going on with the lineup today.”
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Cox is likely to be in center field on Monday at Milwaukee. A right-handed hitter, he’s considered the best defensive outfielder in the organization and coach Drew Robinson, who’s seen Cox a number of times, said he might be one of the better defenders in the game, period.
Asked to describe his style of play, Cox said, “I kind of play with my hair on fire.”
He brings a speed element the Giants are lacking, with 58 steals each of the past two seasons and a league-leading 27 in Richmond’s first 44 games this year. He also has six homers and 35 RBIs, 16 walks and 31 strikeouts in 160 at-bats.
To make room for Cox on the 40-man roster, the Giants designated reliever Ryan Borucki for assignment. The left-hander worked two innings in the team’s loss Saturday, helping save an over-worked bullpen. Borucki had a 4.94 ERA in 21 games and opponents were hitting .293 off him; though left-handers were at .195, righties hit him at a .373 clip.
“He knows what we know — it didn’t go as well as everybody wanted,” Vitello said, adding later. “You want to put guys in a spot to succeed … Borucki never really got into a distinct role, and part of it, by nature of some shuffling around, he kind of became a guy we needed to eat up some innings, and he did that for us a couple times.”
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With the bullpen taxed, Tristan Beck was recalled from Sacramento, with outfielder Will Brennan getting optioned back to the River Cats.
The Chronicle broke the news of Cox’s promotion before the team announced the move Sunday morning.