From DC to DC: Coy James signs MLB contract with Washington Nationals

Published 10:32 am Tuesday, July 29, 2025

By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

If you could have bottled all the emotion from the Angus Barn Steakhouse in Raleigh on July 13, you’d have enough anger and frustration to start a war.
If you could have bottled all the emotion from the Coy James camp on day two of the Major League Baseball Draft on July 14, you’d have enough joy to prevent one.
James was not picked in the first three rounds on July 13 and his family had to wallow in disappointment all night. But a movie-like ending followed the next day, when James was picked in the fifth round by the Washington Nationals and received a record signing bonus of $2.5 million.
“It was a crazy 24 hours,” father Matt James said. “His agent (Joey Devine) kept telling me: ‘Just trust us.’ A kid got picked 22nd by the Braves and he signed for $2.6, so he went for $100,000 more than Coy. It fell into our lap. He’s on the East Coast and Washington really wanted him.”
“At the end of the day, it all ended up working out,” Coy said. “I am super excited with the Nationals.”
Going into the draft, the 6-0, 190-pound shortstop from Davie High had many reasons to believe he’d get picked on the first day. MLB.com listed him the No. 59 overall player on the draft board. He was the No. 9 rated shortstop in America. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel had Coy going to the Tigers at No. 24 in his last mock draft. Baseball America had him inside its top 50. MLB Pipeline was lower on Coy, but still had him at No. 94 on its board. Coy was ranked the No. 15 overall player and the No. 9 shortstop by to Perfect Game. And so on.
But when the draft unfolded on Sunday, July 13, 105 names flashed across the TV screen, and Coy wasn’t among them. It was a horrifying experience for the James family and all their friends.
“It was like the biggest circus,” Matt said. “We had momentum going into it. We knew the Nationals were going to take him at 49 if he fell. The Brewers had picks at 20 and 32. The Tigers were at 24 and 34. They were all-in on him. But once the draft started, we never got any feedback from them. They weren’t calling and they weren’t answering calls. And then they took some kids that are not better (than Coy). The Dodgers said the floor was 41, and then they took (Ethan) Petry of South Carolina.”
And then: “The Tigers finally called. They said: ‘We can give him something, but it’s going to have a one in front of it.’ Coy’s agent told them we are not doing it. There were 10 or 12 other teams that called. The Dodgers said: ‘We will take him, but it’s going to be at a discounted rate.’”
The James family had their hopes up at picks 20, 32, 40, 41, 46, 49, 51.
“We felt good,” Matt said. “If he does not go first round, he is not going to slide past 51. It was super stressful.”
When they’d had enough of the unkind day, the James family left Raleigh and headed back to Davie County.
“We were at the Angus Barn at a draft thing,” Matt said. “We leave and we’re like: ‘Damn man, what is going on?’ Every time his agent would talk to a scout, they heard Coy was unsignable, he was going to go to school.”
Then: “Coy handled it like a freaking champ. You wouldn’t have known if he was getting drafted or not. He never got upset, but at one point – like mid second round – he said to (mother) Heather: ‘Can we leave now?’ He just felt disappointed.”
Davie coach Joey Anderson described a gloomy scene at the Angus Barn.
“It was sad to see, and it was a little PTSD for me because I remember watching it back in the day and not seeing my name get called,” he said. “It was hard for me to watch that first night. It was hard to watch Matt, Coy and Heather and the family as those picks kept rattling off, rattling off and rattling off.”
Coy began to slip on the mock draft boards following the last tournament of 2024.
“He did bad at one event and he had a tweaked hamstring,” Matt said. “Coy kept telling us: ‘I’m fine: I’m fine.’ He was wrapping it. It’s the biggest scouted event of the year and he never got fully healthy between events. We said: ‘We can go home, we do not have to do this.’ But Coy wanted to play. When the scouts came to the house in December, they were asking questions and Coy said: ‘I had a pulled hamstring.’ They said: ‘Damn, we didn’t even know that.’ The coaches didn’t even know. He went 1 for 12 with six strikeouts. He has never punched out three times in a game, and that last day he punched out three times. He told a scout: ‘I don’t know why y’all keep asking me about this. I had a bad day.’ His one hit was 103 (mph) off the bat. It was the hardest-hit ball of anybody at the event. He was hitting balls over the batter’s eye at Hoover Park, where the SEC Tournament is at, with a wood bat. There was nothing wrong, he just had to get healthy. They play so much that you don’t get time for rest. And honestly, I think Coy got dehydrated when we were in Atlanta, and it trickled down to his muscles. And that’s why he pulled his hamstring. But you always teach your boys to be tough. You are not hurt, let’s go.”
One day after getting kicked in the shins and punched in the gut repeatedly, there was a beautiful turn of events.
“We got down towards the Nats and Coy’s agent started working a deal with them,” Matt said. “(Devine) said: ‘Matt, I have got a deal with the Nationals, but they want you to agree to go in the fifth round.’”
All of a sudden, the spectacle that took years off Matt’s life left him feeling exhilarated enough to run wind sprints in the backyard. Around lunchtime on July 14, the Nats took Coy with the 142nd pick. No. 142 has a slot value of $508,900, but the Nats did under slot deals with their first two picks. The No. 1 pick has a slot value of $11.1 million, but the Nats cut a deal and signed Eli Willits for $8.2 million and thus saved $3 million.
The massive over slot deal paid Coy like a second-round pick. The $2.5 million is the largest bonus ever given to a player taken outside the first round rounds.
Whoa.
“It all ended up working out,” Matt said. “The Nationals loved him at the combine. They’ve been watching him all year. He’s played in tournaments at West Palm Beach every year at their spring training facility. He’s familiar with the area and we have friends that live in West Palm that will help if he needs something.
“Coy and the No. 1 pick (Willits) played on the USA Trials team together, and he texted Coy that day and said: ‘Look man, I am excited for you to be here with me. You are just as deserving to be the top pick as I am and everybody knows it.’
“Roman Anthony, who is playing with the Red Sox now, went in the third round and he got $2.5 million. So it’s all about having good representation, people that know what they’re doing and know your value. They said the best thing you’re gonna find out is, you guys did not fold and take any less value than what Coy is worth, and you are going to see the people that folded when all these numbers come out. The kid for the Braves went for 2.6, and he’s the 22nd pick. He took $1.3 million under slot. It’s exciting. They really wanted him and there’s familiar faces in that organization that Coy already knows.”
Coy was among four high school players from the state of North Carolina to get drafted. The others: Josh Hammond of Wesleyan Christian Academy, CJ Gray of Kannapolis and Briggs McKenzie of Corinth Holders.
The James family flew to Washington, D.C., on July 22 and Coy signed all the papers on July 24. He left from there to head to West Palm Beach, Fla.
“He deserves it,” Anderson said. “Some people that I think he’s better than got picked before him, but in the long run, he got what he wanted and I’m happy that he stuck to his guns. Coy showed up to (Davie’s youth) camp on Tuesday (July 14). It was a real classy thing for him to do. A lot of kids have heard about him and he surprised a lot of them by showing up.”
It was a wild roller coaster. Exasperation turned to exhilaration and Coy is in West Palm Beach for a month or so to begin his professional career. He became the seventh Davie graduate to get drafted. The others are John Parker (1964, fourth round by the Phillies), Denny Key (1991, 17th round by the Indians), Whit Merrifield (2010, ninth round by the Royals), Joe Watson (2014, 12th round by the Rangers), Jeremy Walker (2016, fifth round by the Braves) and Carson Whisenhunt (2022, second round by the Giants).
“During the second round, my agent told me the Nationals were going to take me in the fourth or fifth round and how much money I got,” Coy said. “That helped me relax a little bit. It definitely was a little heartbreaking because I thought I was going to go high. At the end of the day, it all ended up working out.
“I’d like to stay at shortstop, but I know I’ll probably play some second and third and maybe a little outfield. Hopefully I will stay in the infield and play as much short as I can. Wherever they need me to play to get moved up to the big leagues the fastest is where I’ll play.”