Bryce Cox was taken in the third round of the 2006 draft (103rd overall) after a two-year college career at Rice University in Texas. He’s from a small town called Carrollton, the same high school where I also graduated from, incidentally. He joined the varsity team out of Paris Junior College, and pitched only 18.2 innings his junior year, striking out 24 with a 3.86 ERA. He was tried once as a starter, but joined the bullpen as a setup man. In his senior season, he struck out 62 hitters in 51.2 IP and posted a 5-1 record with a 3.48 ERA. He gave up only one home run the whole season, and then under pressure, he gave a Brad Lidge-type performance in the College World Series.

In the bottom of the ninth against the Miami Hurricanes, Rice was clinging to a 3-2 lead. With one out and runners at the corners, the Hurricanes were sending up slugger John Jay. Cox struck him out with a combination of sliders and a 97 mph fastball, then rung up cleanup hitter Danny Valencia with a nasty 85 mph slider to keep Rice in the series. Bryce Cox pitched 2.2 scoreless innings for the save, two days after pitching another 2.2 shutout innings against Georgia. He’s good under pressure.

The 23-year old Cox briefly pitched for the Lowell Spinners last season, then the Wilmington Blue Rocks, and was almost untouchable at both stops. Cox is 6-4, 200 lbs and features a live fastball that can touch 96 mph, a changeup and perhaps the best hard slider in the Red Sox farm system. He has been known to be wild at times, and at Rice was once banned from pitching batting practice. That problem seems to have been solved since a mechanical adjustment at the end of his senior year. He has the tendency to induce a lot of ground balls (close to 70% at Wimlington last year) and keep the ball in the park, making him a great setup/closer candidate. He has been compared with Brewers pitcher Derrick Turnbow.

Baseball America lists Cox as the 7th best prospect this year in the Red Sox farm system, with the best slider. Some people think that Cox has good enough stuff that he could contribute at the major league level this season. Many pundits are predicting a mid-season callup for the talented righty. Along with prospects Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen, you can imagine what a potentially great bullpen the Sox will have in 2008 and beyond.