advertisement

Sox's first-rounder Collins ready to start minors career

A day after signing Zack Collins to a minor league contract with a $3,380,600 signing bonus, the White Sox gave the first rounder his first taste of what it's like to be a major league player on Saturday.

Before the White Sox's 10-8 loss to the visiting Toronto Blue Jays, Collins participated in the pre-game warm-ups with his new teammates and threw out the game's ceremonial first pitch.

"It has been a crazy couple of days," Collins said. "I'm just enjoying it. It has been a dream come true for me. This part is extremely nice and I'm happy to be part of the organization."

Now that Collins has had a preview of what it's like to be a member of the White Sox, he'll look to use this experience as motivation to get back with his new team as he moves to develop in the minors. And yes, he will be doing so as a catcher despite the speculations of a position move.

"I have to work at everything," Collins said. "Now that I'm in this organization, we have great coaching and everyone is going to help me in every aspect to the game and be the best player I possibly can be and hopefully make it out here decently quick and be able to help the team."

After leading the Hurricanes to the opening round of the 2016 College World Series as a junior, Collins will have a few days to rest before heading out the Arizone League White Sox on July 2. After spending some time there, he'll be expected to move up to the advanced Class A Winston-Salem Dash where he'll begin paving his path towards returning to U.S. Cellular Field.

His father, Patrick Collins, who played competitive softball and introduced Zack to the game as a kid, is a strong believer in his son's ability to get to the majors sooner rather than later.

"I always told Zack 'forget about everything and just outwork everybody. If you start in the eighth spot, make them get you to the fourth spot. Make them get you to the third spot,'" the elder Collins said. "I've always told him it doesn't matter where he starts, it's where you finish and eventually he'll get there. Yeah, we want him to get up here as fast as possible, but he's got a lot to learn and work real hard at it. It's been a 100 percent baseball focus with him. It's something he's wanted, and he said 'I'm going to do it,' so he will get here. That's what I believe. He will get here one day."

At Miami, the left-handed catcher averaged .363 from the plate and hit 16 home runs with 59 RBIs. He also led the nation with 78 walks and was second in Division I with a .544 on-base percentage. After his junior campaign, Collins earned first-team All-American honors, his second straight first-team All-ACC, and he is a finalist for the Johnny Bench Award, given to the nation's top catcher.

"I think Miami helped me a lot with maturing and being able to handle situations like this," Collins said. "I think if I would have done this out of high school I probably would have swung and missed in BP. Miami has helped me a lot. They've always been a big-time program so I've been around a lot of things like this. But this is special."

As the tenth overall selection in the 2016 MLB Draft, the expectations for Collins are high and his potential could be even higher.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.