How Giants stumbled upon ‘JUCO Barry Bonds’

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On a random Tuesday two years ago, Paul Faulk called Giants area scout DJ Jauss to tell him about a startling discovery.

“Paul calls me and he says, ‘I think I’m going crazy,’” Jauss recalled. “I said, ‘Paul, you aren’t doing that, man. What’s up?’ And he says, ‘I think I found Barry Bonds.’”

Faulk has worked as a Major League scout for more than 30 years and signed dozens of big league players -- including current Giants Robbie Ray and Landen Roupp -- so he wouldn’t comp just anyone to the Home Run King. But that was the comparison he kept coming back to when he saw a young left-handed slugger out of Caldwell Community College (Hudson, N.C.) named Bo Davidson.

Jauss, of course, was instantly intrigued.

“He comped him to Barry Bonds,” said Jauss, who covers North and South Carolina for the Giants. “I went and saw [Davidson] 48 hours later. I can’t let that slide.

“He proceeded to kind of play like a JUCO Barry Bonds every time I saw him play. It was unbelievable.”

Signed by Faulk and Jauss as an undrafted free agent in 2023, the 22-year-old Davidson is now ranked as the Giants’ No. 9 prospect by MLB Pipeline and has emerged as one of the top hitters in the Northwest League, where he entered Friday batting .316 with a .939 OPS, six home runs and five stolen bases over 33 games with High-A Eugene.

It’s been a remarkable rise considering the Giants managed to find him through a stroke of serendipity.

“It was really an accident,” Faulk said.

Faulk, who worked as a part-time scout for the Giants in the Carolinas for a few years before leaving to join the Royals organization, went out to Cleveland Community College in Shelby, N.C., to take a look at the third baseman for the Yetis, but he found himself instead drawn to Davidson, who put on a show while taking batting practice for the opposing Caldwell Community College.

“All of a sudden, this guy comes up, and he’s hitting balls all over the place,” Faulk said. “I say, ‘Coach, who in the hell is this guy?’ He said, ‘That’s Bo Davidson.’”

Davidson began his college career at another JUCO -- Guilford Tech in Jamestown, N.C. -- in 2021, but he took the next year and a half off from baseball while dealing with some family matters. When he returned to the field, he decided to enroll at Caldwell, where he got a chance to play with his best friend, Breon Ishmael.

Despite the extended layoff from the sport, Davidson’s raw tools and athleticism in center field quickly shone through for the Giants, who kept close tabs on him as he proceeded to slash .412/.508/.876 with 16 homers over 38 games for Caldwell in 2023.

Jauss went out to see Davidson within days of Faulk’s call and was instantly impressed when he saw the young outfielder slug an opposite-field home run in the first game he attended. Davidson continued to perform throughout the season, boosting his stock even further with a dominant 4-for-4 performance at Virginia Peninsula Community College that included a pull-side home run, two doubles, two RBIs, a walk and two stolen bases.

“Bo made it easy to scout him,” Jauss said. “Every time I showed up, he was the best player on the field.”

The Giants stayed on Davidson when he headed off to play in the Coastal Plain League, a wooden bat summer collegiate showcase where senior director of amateur scouting Michael Holmes saw Davidson in action for the first time. Davidson wasn’t among the Giants’ 21 selections in the 2023 Draft, but the organization ended up signing him for $50,000 shortly thereafter, making him the first Caldwell alum to land with an MLB team.

“I kept telling [Holmes] over and over,” Faulk said. “I said, ‘I want this kid. I want this kid.’ I said, ‘I’ll cut my toes off. I’ll cut my middle finger off. Whatever you want me to do. I’ll cut my fingers off. I want this kid. I want him bad.’ Because I kept telling him, he’s Barry Bonds. That’s who he is. He’s Barry Bonds. I’ll stake my life on it. He’s Barry Bonds Jr.”

Davidson is certainly looking like a steal for the Giants so far. He missed the first half of his first full pro season last year with a hamstring injury, but he came back to slash .328/.438/.608 with a 173 wRC+ over 53 games at Single-A San Jose, earning second-half team MVP honors.

After a successful stint in the Arizona Fall League, Davidson entered Friday leading the Northwest League in OPS while serving as the everyday center fielder for the Emeralds.

“It’s been amazing,” Davidson said in March. “I’m very blessed to do what I do. Coming from a JUCO to here now, it’s a blessing.”