Emerson Hancock insists he has not made up his mind.
The Georgia right-handed pitcher projects to be a top-five pick in the coming Major League Baseball draft. Still, Hancock said he will wait to see whether he leaves to pursue his professional dreams.
“The great thing about the MLB draft is you can see how things play out,” Emerson said Tuesday in a video conference call. “You don’t have to declare. Nobody really knows what’s going to happen. There is a lot of uncertainty about where people might go and how the draft will play out. For me, I really don’t know what is going to happen. Whatever does happens, I’ll make the best of it, and I’ll make the best decision for me and my family.”
Although there has been no official announcement, the MLB draft reportedly will be held June 10-11 and be limited to five rounds. According to the MLB Prospect Rankings, the 6-foot-4 Hancock is rated No. 4. The top five picks in the draft belong to, in order, the Tigers, Orioles, Marlins, Royals and Blue Jays.
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“For my goal, it’s to be a big-league player someday,” Hancock said. “That’s every kid’s goal when you start playing at a young age. The draft is great, but at the end of the day, I want to one day be a big-leaguer, and I want to one day win a World Series. That’s my mindset going into it. You don’t really know where people are going to go. You don’t know how the order is going to fall. For the first time ever, they will have a five-round draft. There is a lot of uncertainty and craziness going into it.”
Georgia went 14-4 before the season was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Just like that, dreams of Georgia getting back to the College World Series were dashed. Hancock had made four starts, recording a team-high 34 strikeouts against three walks, and went 2-0 with a 2.75 ERA in 24 innings. One of those wins for Georgia, which was ranked as high as No. 2 in the country, came against Georgia Tech, then ranked No. 17. He worked 5-2/3 innings and struck out 10. Overall in his three seasons at Georgia, Hancock with 16-7 with a 3.47 ERA in his 33 starts with 206 strikeouts and 55 walks.
Hancock could be the highest draft pick in Georgia history. Jeff Pyburn went fifth overall in 1980.
Hancock returned home to Cairo after the shutdown. It’s there that he continues to work out — alone. It’s a strange feeling, but he sets up a throwing net, cranks up the country music and lets it fly. And he finished his school year, slightly annoyed at an A-minus that prevented him from a 4.0 GPA.
Hancock said he has been talking to major league teams via video conferencing since the end of the collegiate season that prevented him from being scouted.
Most disappointing about the lost season, was Georgia’s high hopes from getting back to Omaha and the College World Series, Hancock said. The Bulldogs, who won the national championship in 1990, haven’t been to the CWS since 2008. Last season, Georgia finished ranked No. 15 in the country with a 46-17 record. They lost to Florida State in the NCAA Tournament regional finals held in Athens, ending their season.
Had the 2020 season not been canceled, Georgia now would be gearing up for the SEC and NCAA tournaments.
“This was the year that we were finally going to break through the regionals,” Hancock said. “We all had that feeling. We were getting primed to play our best baseball in May and June. It’s disappointing that we weren’t able to do that.”
Georgia could have several other players drafted in right-handed pitcher Cole Wilcox and left-handed pitcher Ryan Webb, ranked Nos. 23 and 125 respectively in the MLB Prospect Rankings.
