Following his first pro season, Royals minor leaguer Sean Collins got an invitation to instructional league in January, The Manhattan Mercury wrote.
A Kansas State product, Collins described the experience to The Mercury.
"It was an honor just to get the invitation," Collins told The Mercury. "I was really in awe at first. You walk in the lockerroom and you see 'Brett' and 'Jackson' above the lockers. That took some time to get used to."
Collins made high-A that year, but that season proved the extent of his career with the Royals. He returned four seasons later for independent ball.
Collins' career began in 1989, taken by the Royals in the 13th round of the draft out of Kansas State.
Collins started with the Royals at short-season Eugene. He hit .322 in 66 games. He also stole 31 bases.
He then moved to high-A Baseball City for much of 1990 and played some at single-A Appleton. He hit .236 in 107 games between them.
Collins returned for spring 1991, but did not make a Royals minor league team.
But Collins eventually continued playing. In 1994, he signed on with independent Thunder Bay. In 1995, he played with independent Pueblo and Tyler. He hit .327 in 87 games that year.
Collins played all of 1996 at Tyler, hitting .313 in 94 games. He played well enough to sign on with Tyler again for 1997.
"It was important to keep Sean on the team. He adds so many dimensions, like speed, defense and experience to our roster," Tyler manager Darrell Evans told The Tyler Morning Telegraph. "Off the field, in this area, he is a role model for the kids, and with his background in baseball, I expect him to be a leader on this team."
Collins hit .374 in 85 games that year. He then signed on with the Rangers for 11 games at AA Tulsa in 1998 and played the rest of the year at independent Amarillo to end his career.
He then worked in Texas and then California as a youth coach at camps and in schools. In 2022, he was back in Texas, heading a Missouri City Little League Pro Camp.
- Manhattan Mercury, March 22, 1990: Collins gets in line
- Tyler Morning Telegraph, May 1, 1997: 'Catters Sign Two Players
Made the Majors:1,392-32.4%
Never Made Majors:2,904-67.6%-X
10+ Seasons in the Minors:349
No comments:
Post a Comment