Zachary Allen Collins (born February 6, 1995) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

in the

Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...

organization. He has previously played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

and

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

Amateur career

Collins attended American Heritage School in

Plantation, Florida Plantation is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 91,750. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. The city's name comes from the previous part-owner of the land, the Eve ...

along with high school and college teammate Brandon Lopez. He was drafted by the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

in the 27th round of the

2013 Major League Baseball draft The 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2013. The first two rounds were broadcast from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. Each team received one selection per round, going in ...

but did not sign; instead, he attended the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the Miami Hurricanes. As a freshman at Miami in 2014, Collins played in 61 games and hit .298/.427/.556 with 11

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 54

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

(RBIs). He was named the

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

Freshman of the Year and was

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

's Freshman of the Year. As a sophomore in 2015 he played in 66 games, hitting .302/.445/.587 with 15 home runs and 70 RBIs. After the 2015 season, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the Cotuit Kettleers of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. In his junior year, Collins batted .363 with 16 home runs and 59 RBIs, and his 78 walks were the most in college baseball. He won the

Johnny Bench Award The Buster Posey Award, formerly known as the Johnny Bench Award, was created in 2000 to honor college baseball's top catcher in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The award is administered by the Greater Wichita Area Sp ...

Professional career

Chicago White Sox

Collins was drafted tenth overall in the

2016 Major League Baseball draft The 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 9, 2016, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2015 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks will be d ...

by the

. After signing, he made his professional debut with the Arizona League White Sox and was promoted to the Winston-Salem Dash after three games. He was named a

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

All-Star with the Dash. Collins ended 2016 with a combined .244 batting average with six home runs and 18 RBIs in 39 games between both teams. After the season, the White Sox assigned Collins to the Glendale Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League (AFL). He spent 2017 with both Winston-Salem and the

Birmingham Barons The Birmingham Barons are a Minor League Baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and plays at Regions Field in downtown Birmingham. The current ...

, posting a combined .224 batting average with 19 home runs and 53 RBIs in 113 games in total between the two clubs. Collins spent the 2018 season back with Birmingham where he was named to the Southern League All-Star Game, winning the Southern League Home Run Derby. He finished the year batting .234 with 15 home runs and 68 RBIs in 122 games. He began 2019 with the Charlotte Knights. On June 18, his contract was purchased and he was called up to the major leagues for the first time. Collins debuted as pinch hitter against the Cubs where he drew a walk in his only appearance that game. His first major league hit was a three-run home run versus the Texas Rangers on June 21, 2019. Overall with the 2020 Chicago White Sox, Collins batted .063 with no home runs and 0 RBIs in 9 games. On April 14, 2021, Collins caught the 20th

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

in White Sox history, which

Carlos Rodón Carlos Antonio Rodón (born December 10, 1992) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played MLB for the Chicago White Sox and San Francisco Giants. Rodón is a two- ...

pitched.

Toronto Blue Jays

On April 3, 2022, Collins was traded to the

in exchange for

Reese McGuire Reese Jackson McGuire (born March 2, 1995) is an American professional baseball catcher for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago White Sox. McGuire was drafted b ...

. On September 5, 2022, Collins was designated for assignment.

Pittsburgh Pirates

On September 6, 2022, Collins was claimed off waivers by the

and was optioned to Triple-A

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. He elected free agency on November 10, 2022.

Cleveland Guardians

On February 9, 2023, Collins signed a minor league contract with the

organization.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Zack 1995 births Living people People from Pembroke Pines, Florida Baseball players from Florida Major League Baseball catchers Chicago White Sox players Toronto Blue Jays players Pittsburgh Pirates players Miami Hurricanes baseball players Cotuit Kettleers players Arizona League White Sox players Winston-Salem Dash players Glendale Desert Dogs players Birmingham Barons players Charlotte Knights players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players All-American college baseball players American Heritage School (Florida) alumni