The White Sox have signed first-round draft pick Zack Collins, the club announced today. He’ll receive an at-slot bonus of $3,380,600, per Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago (via Twitter).
Collins was taken with the 10th overall selection out of the University of Miami, based largely upon his top-quality bat and outstanding results against strong competition in college. He is coming off of a season in which he not only took 69 walks while striking out just 48 times, but slashed .358/.534/.631 and swatted 13 long balls in 176 turns at bat.
That kind of hitting can play anywhere on the field, but it’s all the more impressive for a catcher. That said, many question whether Collins can stick behind the dish as a professional. The assessments vary somewhat, but it seems safe to say that it’s far from certain that he’ll end up donning the gear at the major league level — let alone that he’ll be a quality receiver.
Collins himself believes in his ability behind the plate, though, as he told MLBTR contributor Chuck Wasserstrom a few months back. “Obviously, I’m an offensive catcher,” he said, “but I’m working on my defense a lot lately. I think I’ve gotten a lot better defensively … I’ve worked a lot on my blocking and receiving and throwing and footwork – all that kind of stuff. We actually have a new catching coach down here in Miami (Norberto Lopez), and he’s helped me a ton.”
Despite the defensive questions, Collins’ bat was good enough to draw top grades from prospect hounds. He ranked as high as 14th among draft-eligible prospects, in the eyes of MLB.com. And he also landed within the top twenty names listed by Baseball America and ESPN.com.
It’s too bad the sox have one of the worst records for developing their own players. Williams has been unable to get a good staff together and should be let go! They had a very good draft this year. They better not ruin any of those players!!!
Can’t argue with that. Their position player development is terrible. Has been for a while now.