The White Sox are set to call up catcher Zack Collins from Triple-A, tweets Andy Slater of 640 The Hurricane radio. Collins is not on the Chicago 40-man roster, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move to clear room for him.
Collins, a 24-year-old catcher from the University of Miami, was a first-round pick (tenth overall) by the White Sox in 2016. MLB Pipeline regards Collins as the 11th-best prospect in the Chicago farm system, lauding his combination of power and on-base skills. Collins’s patience at the plate is perhaps his best trait, as he drew 101 bases on balls in 122 Double-A games last season, good for a 19% walk rate. MLB Pipeline also touts his “prodigious power to all fields,” with Collins hitting nine home runs in 48 games this season.
On the flip side, Collins’s patience in working counts has also translated to high strikeout totals in his professional career: in 1365 minor league plate appearances, Collins has produced a 29% strikeout rate. His struggles making contact have also produced low batting averages, though Collins’s skillset is such that he can be productive without hitting for a high average. Scouts are also skeptical his defense behind the plate, with MLB Pipeline suggesting that Collins “lacks soft hands and is a shaky receiver.”
This season, the White Sox have turned to James McCann and Welington Castillo to handle the catching duties. While McCann has been one of the most productive White Sox this season, the results have not been so promising for Castillo, who has produced a paltry .642 OPS this year and looks to be a candidate to be designated for assignment. It’s also notable that Yonder Alonso, who has been the team’s primary DH this year, has been largely unproductive for the South Siders, as he has mustered just a .591 OPS in 60 games.
Considering the concerns about Collins’s defensive ability behind the plate, there may be an opening for regular ABs as a designated hitter. However, if the White Sox are primarily concerned with Collins’s development, it may be most beneficial to give him every opportunity to prove his worth as a catcher before relegating him to DH. It remains to be seen just how often Collins will get reps at catcher, but the youth movement in Chicago is firmly underway, with Collins the latest prospect to join the MLB club.
Cut Alonso or Despaigne, please?
Sure, Despaigne hasn’t exactly been an all-star, But who do you want to put on the mound every fifth day? Don’t say Cease – he’ll be taking Bañuelos’ roster spot after the all-star game.
Trade for someone at this point, if they plan to be competitive. But I caution trading the farm away for a 3/4 type pitcher.
Doesn’t make sense to trade for a “3/4 type pitcher. First of all, they already have guys who eat innings, adding another one won’t make a difference. Second, they’re not done with the rebuild yet. A rebuild doesn’t end until you’ve developed enough big league talent to have excess depth in the minors. Sox are at least two years away from that. Lastly, they can get the type of pitchers you’re suggesting via free agency. They don’t need to unload prospects for average pitchers. Makes no sense.
Use openers? Anything but sending out the human equivalent to a punching bag every 5th day.
With the exception of Lucas Giolito, the entire White Sox rotation has resembled a “punching bag” more often than not in 2019.
@MrStealYoBase
Have you seen the Sox bullpen? I’d rather take my chances with the punching bag every 5th day.
By the way, which punching bag are referring to…Despaigne, Nova, Banuelos, or Lopez?
Against the New York baseball club on Sunday, the runs on Despaigne stayed mainly in the ballpark
7 earned on 9 hits with 4 walks in 4.1 innings. May be the best outing of the year for that guy.
Except he went 6 innings and gave up 3 earned on 7 hits last week.
Think about how hard Don Cooper is working this year.
The White Sox have an open spot on their 40-man reserve roster with the Indians waiver claim of SP prospect Jordan Stephens this past Saturday. They also have an opening on their 25-man active roster when they optioned right-handed pitcher Thyago Vieira to Class AAA Charlotte following Sunday’s game versus the Yankees..
The White Sox should know more about the back injuries that forced C Wellington Castillo and 3B Yoan Moncada to leave Sunday’s contest before their next scheduled game against the Cubs on Tuesday. In the event that both players remain day-to-day it’s possible that Collins could simply replace Viera on the active roster for now. The White Sox have two scheduled off days this coming week and another the following week. They might be able to get by with a 12-man pitching staff in the short term, at least until the severity of the Castillo and Moncada injuries can be fully determined.
If Castillo ultimately lands on the IL in the next day or two then Collins replaces him and the White Sox will add another pitcher prior to Tuesday’s game.
surely it has to be a castillo, i cant see them carrying three catchers.
Castillo left the game early today.
Either he hurt his back (like Moncada) as reported by TV announcer or else is involved in a trade.
Castillo lower back tightness reported everywhere except in this MLB “Trade Rumor”.
The White Sox should have one open space available on the 40-Man roster after Jordan Stephens was placed on waivers and was picked up by Cleveland. The question is: does Collins take Alonso’s place as DH? Or will he take Castillo’s spot as a catcher if Castillo goes on the IL?
collins doesn’t hit enough to be a dh
Yah, that ~.900 OPS would be god awful at DH.
Down to .856. Being out OPS’s by such allstars as Matt Skole, Ryan Goins, Daniel Palka and the ever dangerous Paolo Orlando. It won’t translate to the Bigz.
And out OPS’ing Bichette by 100+ points. Guess the Jays should trade that piece of crap.
Maybe he can play left field. At least his arm can’t be any worse than what Bryant demonstrated tonight.
Bichette is 21 and doesn’t play at BB&T. Bryant, um, what?
Stretch!
yeah, to be fair, he looks like a better power hitter then i gave him credit for. my mistake there.
Not only does he not hit enough to be DH, he doesn’t catch well enough to play regularly back there either. This is a move to help them back into ‘their tanking mode’!!
Calling up one of your top prospects to get some plate appearances “helps them tank”? No. Its called PLAYER DEVELOPMENT”. You’re thinking like a fan instead of a GM. Rebuilding is a process, and it doesn’t happen overnight. The Sox aren’t contenders right now anyway.
Call up Cease nuff Said
The waiver claim of Jordan Stephens by Cleveland opened up a 40 man roster spot for Zack Collins. Jon jay is due back soon too so another move will have to be made. I’m hoping Welington Castillo is about to be traded.
Last year when Castillo was suspended for PEDs Reynaldo Lopez pitched a lot better with Omar Narvaez and Kevan Smith catching him. This year Lopez has thrown to Castillo and pitched poorly all season. Hopefully, Rick Hahn has a trade in the works.
Or it could be the fact that he can’t put people away and it’s mechanical…
To go along with that, I gotta credit James McCann with helping Giolito get on track.
I don’t see this call up being anything more than filling for an injured Castillo and giving Collins some experience. Let’s not get crazy here.
Collins ability to catch at the major league level has been consistently called into question, Mc Cannon has been all-star caliber during the first half and Alonso has not produced so why not slot Collins as the DH and start working him into the catching spot to see if he can handle the spot
The Sox may have added Collins to have an extra bat on the bench against the Cubs at Wrigley on Tuesday. The Sox optioned pitcher Thyago Vieira to Triple A after the game today.
I think that’s pretty clearly the plan… He’s not taking reps away from McCann anytime soon.
Remember to run hard out of the box kids
Plate discipline doesn’t matter when you can’t hit. He never fixed the hitch in his swing. ML pitchers will eat him alive with inside fastballs.
Still, best to get it out of the way this year….along with Tilson, Cordell, Delmonico, Palka, Rondon and Engel.
I’m fairly certain plate discipline still matters quite a bit.
If you can’t hit, Major League pitchers will just throw you strikes. And there goes the OBP.
Oh, ok.
@pplama
Congratulations, you just won the Idiotic Comment of the Day!
I’d say plate discipline matters more when you can’t hit. If you have a feel for the barrel, you can get away with swinging at bad pitches. If your swing sucks, your only chance is to not swing at harder pitches to hit.
That hitch is hideous just like Brett Lawrie’s hitch. If he doesn’t learn to bring his hands up back and in as he’s loading and then striding towards the pitch, he’ll never hit well spotted fastball.
Why do the two Sox guys that always comment on the Cubs posts never seem to comment on a Sox post? Weird. Please trade Wellington Castillo. He is awful and McCann is the new leader of that clubhouse. I’m sure they will get no return for him but it’s better than just a dfa. Alonso can go too.
Miss me?
I have an off day. Taking advantage of it.
Didn’t miss you at all. Saw all ten of your posts on the Cubs story today just to prove 1978’s point. Hey, good luck on “your” two World Series games this week.
@mike127
Funny, I was going to say the same thing to you, because there’s no way the Cubs are getting past LA this year.
And you know what fans of teams whose window of opportunity is closing says? “At least we made the playoffs” LOL
Congrats on your one year wonder. For the 11th straight decade, the Cardinals (you know, your arch rival) trumped you. That’s gotta sting, always being under the Cards’ thumb, squirming as frantically as you can, but unable to get out. LOL
How’s that for a little trolling. 🙂
I normally don’t troll, but mike127 made himself way too easy of a target to pass up. Now that I have the trolling out of my system for a few months, I’m feeling much better. LOL
What do you expect to get from trading players who are underperforming? We’ve worked with these guys all year, you can’t just dump and bring up new guys unless it’s for injuries, in this case Castillo.
lol the guy said he doesnt hit enough to be a DH…wow. hes getting on base and has power this year.
sox can bring seby up and work collins at 1B/DH.
Unfortunately, the defensive scouting report on Seby Zavala is just as poor as that of Zack Collins. Both carry a 50 arm and 45 field grade on the 20-80 scale. Collins’ advantage over Zavala is in his 55 power tool.
A priority for the White Sox going forward is to find and identify a left-handed bat or two to balance off a future lineup which currently appears heavily right-handed based on their best young players and prospects. A middle of the order that looks to feature two right-handed sluggers in LF Eloy Jimenez and 1B Andrew Vaughn might also benefit from the addition of a high OPS left-handed bat.
Hopefully Zack Collins will become an internal option to help with that future batting order. My fear is that he will never be an adequate enough defensive catcher to warrant a full-time gig behind the plate. Even so, I do have some measure of faith that Collins could emerge as the White Sox primary DH versus right-handed pitching along with being a backup at catcher and 1B.
The kiss of death.
With the White Sox just beginning their transition from rebuilders to contenders this season into next, you best believe that GM Rick Hahn will approach the July 31st trade deadline with an eye toward the future. He will not only field offers for impending free agent veterans but also look to max out on those with limited control including Alex Colome and James McCann.
White Sox fans are hoping that under-producing veterans like Wellington Castillo, Yonder Alonso and Ivan Nova will be dealt but Hahn will surely listen on proposals for producing vets like Colome, McCann and Jose Abreu as well. He won’t approach the upcoming deadline with a mandate to trade the latter trio with Colome and McCann still under arbitration eligible control through next season along with Abreu being a strong candidate for a contract extension with his slugging and leadership abilities. That being said, it could still benefit the White Sox long term goal to sell high on all three veterans if it means acquiring more quality controllable young MLB talent and near ready prospects to fill some remaining needs going forward. Currently, those needs could include a solid left-handed bat or two, a core starting catcher and a quality southpaw for the rotation and bullpen.
I agree with all of this except McCann. I think it would be a mistake to trade him because of the leadership and the work he’s done with the pitchers, especially Giolito. I don’t think the bat stays as good as it’s been, but i still think Hahn hangs on. Even though there is only 1 year of control left, that one year it will be critical to have a stabilizing force behind the plate with Giolito further establishing himself as an ace and the return/debuts of Kopech, Rodon, Cease and even Dunning.
Colome meh, but I would keep McCann and Abreu. I’m still hoping for a wildcard but I guess I’m dreaming.
Hahn should be concentrating on extending McCann at this time. There is nobody within the organization who comes remotely close to replacing the value he brings. Nova, Yonder, and Castillo all could not be given away. DFAx3.
On another subject, on the 20-80 rating scale, how would you rate the 20-80 rating scale? What an idiotic contrivance that it must be explained each time it is referenced. What happened to the good old 1-10?
I’d give it a 60.
40, no more.
Zavala got his feet wet, and now Zack as well. This is a great move to see how well he can catch, and also to see if his bat is good enough to keep him on the roster even if he doesn’t pan out at catcher. There’s no way he can be worse than Alonso.
Hope Collins learns from Moncada’s early mistake of low contact guy playing umpire. The early book in MLB will be throw him a fastball right down the middle first pitch and then mess with him rest of AB for an easy K. If he anticipates that scouting report early on and swings at first pitch (if dead red), it will at least keep opponents honest.
If any team would pay even a small portion of Yonder/Castillo’s salary, hope they just do it. Collins can go through natural growing pains being primarily a DH and giving both McCann + Abreu defensive days off to DH themselves. Catching non-Giolito/Lopez starts twice and playing 1b once a week seems reasonable.
You guys need to understand prospects can get better. That is why they’re called prospects. Don’t over analyze this thing. Many of these guys will need years to develop.
If they replace Yonder with Collins they will be substituting in one former Miami Hurricane for another. []_[]