Thursday marked a fortnight before Opening Day, and Yasmani Grandal's first appearance of Cactus League play behind the plate. If you tag him with Dallas Keuchel's inability to get out of the first -- followed by his re-entry in the second, courtesy of 2021's wacky spring training rules -- it could've gone better. But if you're only concerned about his ability to do it again at this juncture, it sounds like he's cautiously optimistic that the worst is behind him.
"It's going to be day to day, it's going to be how much workload can we get in, and seeing how the knee reacts," Grandal said. "So far it's been good, but we're definitely not going to be pushing it too hard just in case." He later added there was "no pain" in his knee at this time.
Assuming Grandal can ramp up in order to be hitting his stride by April 1, it'll come at a cost for the guys vying for the backup spot. Since we last checked in on this group, Zack Collins has taken a clear lead among the competition, whether in terms of playing time or performance.
| Catcher | PA | Catcher | BA/OBP/SLG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zack Collins | 29 | Zack Collins | .391/.517/.522 |
| Yermín Mercedes | 27 | Jonathan Lucroy | .286/.412/.357 |
| Jonathan Lucroy | 17 | Yermín Mercedes | .269/.296/.385 |
And Collins is feeling it, at least according to the confidence-soaked quotes he slung at Scott Merkin:
CHICAGO -- Zack Collins firmly believes he should be part of the 2021 White Sox Opening Day roster.
“One hundred percent,” Collins said Thursday morning during a conversation with MLB.com from Glendale, Ariz. “I think if I’m not, then it’s a mistake.” [...]
“I’ve done everything they’ve asked me to do the last couple of years,” Collins said. “Worked on my body, worked on my approach, my defense, everything is continuing to grow. I’ve got nothing but high praise out of it. So, I don’t see a reason why I shouldn’t be."
We've seen hot springs turn into cool-at-best Aprils before, including Collins just last year, when he hit .364/.548/.682 over 31 plate appearances. Yet he has some reason to crow, because through his 29 PAs this year, he's only struck out twice (and both have been backwards Ks).
That's a big deal for a guy who has never struck out less than 25 percent of the time at any level where he's spent meaningful time. That rate spikes to 36.7 percent in the majors, albeit over 120 sporadically accumulated plate appearances. Going through his game logs, he's never come close to that kind of contact regularity at any level. The closest is a stretch where he struck out once over 17 plate appearances at the end of his 2018 season with Birmingham. But go one game outside that cherry-picked sample, and you'll find a platinum sombrero.
Collins gave Merkin a reason for it:
“I’ve been swinging a lot more often,” Collins said. “Still taking my walks, but it’s me striking out a lot less, which is why I think you see the average a lot higher, the OPS higher and all that kind of stuff. I’m swinging early in counts now. Just being aggressive and putting balls in play, and good things are happening."
“Obviously, through the lower levels, you can control counts, even behind in the count. But once you get to the high levels, they can throw anything at any point. So, you have to be ready to hit everything. I’m going to be a little bit more aggressive and swinging in the zone. I’m not trying to chase anything outside the zone. My eye is good enough to where I won’t do that naturally.”
I'd argue that Collins didn't do a great job of being behind in the count in the minors, but maybe that's in the past. For now, looking through all the available video of Collins' plate appearances, his brand of aggression hasn't manifested itself the way it does in other hitters throughout the White Sox lineup. He's still disciplined enough to draw six walks against those two strikeouts. In two of those walks, he didn't think about swinging the bat, including one of the six-pitch variety.
It just seems like he has a little more plate coverage going for him.
Here's probably the most representative at-bat of this particular spring, against Oakland's Jordan Weems back on Sunday. He falls behind 0-2 with a foul and a take, but survives eight pitches for a single to right, making contact all six times he swings while Rick Hahn and Chris Getz are sitting right behind him.
Here's another example against Colorado's Germán Marquez on March 7, where he takes all pitcher's pitches into a 3-1 count, fouls off a fastball, then shoots a borderline pitch past the third baseman.
And here's an at-bat against San Diego's Miguel Diaz on March 9, when he sees all strikes, and makes good contact on 0-2.
Nothing looks terribly different from his setup and swing last year, except maybe the leg kick, which seems smoother, or less stabby when it comes to planting. That could be less a mechanical change and more a result of Collins feeling confident, but I suppose it would help explain why his hands are able to get to more pitches.
If there's one trade-off, Collins isn't exactly pounding the ball. A lot of his singles have been flares and shift-beaters, and the contact is the opposite way. It's just hard to tell whether that's new right now, because Collins' power has always been somewhat oriented to the opposite field, including his only extra-base hit this spring:
Put it on the board! pic.twitter.com/N5JVOodiRr
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) March 3, 2021
It's hard to be worried about Collins trading extra-base hits for dinked singles when his inability to put the ball in play has hampered him more than anything.
The bigger question is what the spring environment is contributing to the cause. Collins' progress is impressive, but it looks a little more suspect during a spring where Leury García has also turned into a very discerning hitter. A guy who strikes out seven times for every walk has drawn five free passes against against four strikeouts over 33 plate appearances this spring. Billy Hamilton just showed up, and he matched his 2020 walk total (two) over one-sixth of the plate appearances (four). The Cactus League is no stranger to the desert mirage. Perhaps the regular season will arrive and MLB-grade pitchers will resume firing fastballs up on Collins' hands, and we're back where we started.
But again, Collins hasn't really done anything like this in any other professional sample, whether it came in the spring, the regular season, Triple-A, Double-A, any A. That counts as novel enough for intrigue. Throw a catching guru on the coaching staff, and there's enough that's different on both sides of the ball to keep an open mind in 2021, at least if he can sustain this through the rest of the preseason. When April rolls around, the issue becomes rather familiar: whether he'll get the playing time to prove it.
(Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire)
