Miami Hurricanes Alum Zack Collins is getting ready to play in the MLB Futures game less than ten miles from where he played his college baseball. What are the scouts saying about the former Hurricanes Catcher?
Zack Collins was an All-American and former Johnny Bench Award winner as the best catcher in college baseball while at Miami. He helped lead the Miami Hurricanes to a pair of College World Series appearances.
Collins was a slugger at Miami. He hit .319 with 42 home runs and 183 RBIs in three seasons with the Hurricanes. The former Miami Hurricanes catcher had an incredible slash line of a .472 slugging percentage, .601 on-base percentage, and a 1.073 on-base plus slugging in college.
He was the tenth pick of the first round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft by the Chicago White Sox. The Winston-Salem Dash’s catcher was the fifth college player taken and the first catcher selected in 2016.
MLB.Com’s scouting report of Collins is:
"Zack Collins, C, Winston-Salem Dash (A+)No. 7 on White Sox Top 30/No. 69 on MLB Top 100Collins been mired in a slump for much of June and, in general, hasn’t hit for much average this season, but the switch-hitting backstop has still demonstrated a valuable blend of on-base skills and power (.776 OPS, 10 homers), while throwing out 43 percent (34 of 79) of attempted basestealers."
Collins is part of a loaded White Sox farm system after a pair of trades last offseason and the big signing of Cuban national Luis Robert. He is currently the seventh-ranked prospect in the White Sox farm system.
The only player currently ranked ahead of Collins that was in their system at the time he was drafted is their 2015 first round pick pitcher Carson Fulmer from Vanderbilt.
Collins is the third highest rated position prospect in White Sox farm system. Robert is ranked third and second baseman Yoan Moncada is first. Moncada is also the highest rated prospect in all of baseball.
Redbird Rants
Collins is in the top ten all-time in several categories for the Miami Hurricanes. He is sixth all-time in home runs, ten in RBIs, fourth in walks, second in walks in a season with 78 in 2016, and also third all-time in strikeouts.
Although he’s only in high single-A with the Winston-Salem Dash, Collins future with the White Sox seems bright. Kevan Smith and Omar Navarez the White Sox current catchers are having adequate seasons offensively, but neither is the future.
Collins has been better than anticipated defensively. The scouting reports on Collins are that his growth in the minors has to come defensively. He has thrown out 42 percent of base stealers so far this season.
None of the White Sox prospects at AAA Charlotte or AA Birmingham project to be impact major leaguers.
The only concern thus far with Collins is his batting average. He is hitting just .213, but with good power numbers and a .369 on-base percentage and .411 slugging percentage.
Next: Miami Baseball Alum Charles Johnson to Manage in MLB Futures Game
Working with Johnson this weekend has to help Collins. The former Miami Hurricanes catchers should bond playing in the shadow of where their stardoms grew ion Coral Gables.