The Blue Jays have designated catcher Zack Collins for assignment, tweets Mitch Bannon of Sports Illustrated. The move creates a vacancy on the 40-man roster for reliever Julian Merryweather, who was activated from the 60-day injured list between games of today’s doubleheader with the Orioles. Righty Casey Lawrence was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo to clear an active roster spot.
Toronto acquired Collins just before Opening Day, swapping backstops with the White Sox in a deal that sent Reese McGuire to Chicago. One of the big appeals for the Jays at the time was that Collins could be optioned to Triple-A, while the out-of-options McGuire had to stick on the MLB active roster. In a Jays organization that also includes Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk and top prospect Gabriel Moreno, Collins has had a tough time getting on a big league diamond. He’s appeared in 26 MLB games this season, hitting only .194/.266/.417 with an untenable 39.2% strikeout rate over 79 trips to the plate.
The lefty-hitting backstop has had more success — albeit in an entirely unconventional way — in Buffalo. He owns a .195/.361/.398 line through 155 plate appearances with the Bisons. It’s obviously an unimpressive batting average, but a massive 20.6% walk rate has allowed Collins to get on base at a strong clip in the minors. He’s also connected on five homers, seven doubles and a triple in 36 Triple-A games.
Plate discipline and power have long been Collins’ calling cards, and that combination was enough to inspire the White Sox to take him with the #10 overall pick in the 2016 draft. He has an excellent 13% walk rate over 430 MLB plate appearances, but that hasn’t been enough to compensate for a 33.5% strikeout percentage that has led to a sub-.200 career batting average.
Collins will now find himself on waivers. With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, the Jays either have to release him or try to run him through outright waivers. He’s in his final minor league option year, so an acquiring club could stash him in Triple-A for the rest of this season but would have to carry him on the Opening Day roster in 2023 or make him available to other teams.
Merryweather, meanwhile, is in position to make his first MLB appearance in a bit less than three months. He’s been out since June 14 with an abdominal strain, an unfortunate continuation of injury issues that have bothered him throughout his career. Merryweather has also missed time with elbow and oblique issues as a big leaguer, in addition to numerous IL stints as a prospect. The 30-year-old has only 41 MLB appearances as a result, but he’s flashed a power arsenal when healthy.
The right-hander has averaged 97.3 MPH on his fastball this season. That hasn’t translated to as many whiffs as one might expect, with his 10.7% swinging strike rate through 18 1/3 innings checking in a bit below league average. Merryweather has induced ground-balls at a lofty 52.5% clip, however, and he’ll offer interim manager John Schneider a power arm to call upon in relief.
1st round pick?!? What happened ?
The same thing that happens to most MLB 1st rounders.
Most Chisox first rounders. Although if the money was the same, Collins is a better ball player than the overpaid Grandal.
No friends no job no prospects. Think I’ll sit right here where noone listens to me.
The guy was brought in as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning , made a sliding catch, and 20 minutes later was cut.
That’s Bradley zimmer
farhan..
It’s a shame that Toronto gave away Reese McGuire for basically nothing. You’d think they would have dealt him for any other position than catcher since they have so many on the roster already. McGuire could have netted a decent relief pitcher for them IMO. It ended up working out for the Red Sox in the long run as McGuire has been excellent since joining Boston at the trade deadline and Boston somehow convinced Chicago to take Diekman off their hands too (with a guaranteed 2023 salary as well).
I think that my jays did this because collins had an option and McGuire not and for insurance not knowing is Moreno was ready…I agree with you tho that he could have netted us a decent arm
He has 62 PAs a 4.5% BB rate, and a .435 BABIP for Boston. Only four of those hits have been for extra bases and none of them home runs. So he’s hit a lot of lucky singles in a small sample.
Over his career he’s got a career wRC+ of 79. The Jays traded him for nothing because he was worth basically nothing. Especially with his parking lot passions. Chicago certainly wasted no time moving on from him. But don’t worry, once that BABIP comes down to a reasonable level and/or he exposes himself on Lansdowne, it’ll all make sense.
The Jays have a habit of giving away many players and prospects for little or nothing. They misread what a player is or will be. They have made a few good trades but not many. They hang on to the young and old players too long or just can’t scout very well and get little in return a lot of the time. Some of the long list: Dalton Pompey, Marco Estrada, Justin Smoak, Derek Fisher, Josh Donaldson, Rob Refsnyder, Anthony Alford, Billy MacKinney, Dwight Smith Jr, Brandon Drury, Cavan Biggio, Rowdy Tellez, Alen Hanson, Jacob Waguespack,Elvis Luciano, TJ Zeuch, Anthony Kay, Ryan Borucki, Thomas Pannone, Trent Threnton, Reese Macguire.
Yeah with 20/20 hindsight it’s easy to tell who should have been traded and when. Why the Jays never purchased a crystal ball instead of signing Kendrys Morales is beyond me.
Of course, Pompey, Fisher, Alford, McKinney, Smith, Hanson, Wageuspack, Luciano, Zeuch, Kay, Borucki, Pannone, Thorton, Refsnyder, and McGuire are/were all fringe guys (as evidenced by their, um, careers) with not much value so I’m not sure what you expected to get for them.
Justin Smoak had no real trade value. Drury got a concussion and had no trade value at the time as he looked lost at the plate. Estrada was solid for three seasons before he fell apart. No way the Jays could have seen that coming.
I’ll give you Donaldson though.
@mule
Well said
They traded back up catcher for back up catcher with an option at the time.
Collins started off well for the Jays this season but fell pretty quickly after that.
Maybe he goes over seas for a year or two and comes back as a better player for someone. I don’t see him on a mlb team to start next season
He’s a fine backup catcher for offense.
“The switch-hitting backstop has had more success… ”
Zack Collins isn’t a switch hitter
Bradley Zimmer survives another day
I hope that the Angels claim him.
We’ll take anyone we can get our mitts on. We aren’t picky.
I’d like the Mets to take a chance on him, our catchers can’t hit for average, can’t walk, and cant hit for power. Can’t be any worse then Perez
Francisco Alvarez?
Alvarez might be out for the season with a knee injury. He also is still adjusting to Triple A pitching
Reese is better. He’s always practicing his grip strength anywhere and everywhere. Zack just doesn’t have that type of dedication.
Anybody noticed what a great pickup Merrifield has been? Definitely worth a 23 year old arm with a decent future.
Come on shatkins.