White Sox catcher Zack Collins hasn’t quite figured it out yet. Luckily for him, veteran James McCann is his locker mate.
McCann has become a mentor to Collins. In doing so, he’s helped the former first-round pick adjust to the big leagues — which, as a catcher, can be more challenging than other positions.
“[What’s] tough about a catcher is when you get called up for the first time you’re not only trying to learn yourself at the big league level,” McCann said, “but you’re also trying to learn every other hitter you’re calling a game against and you’re trying to learn every pitcher that you haven’t caught all season long.”
The vast amount of information Collins has consumed over the last month has been overwhelming for the 24-year-old. In the minors, they do scouting reports, but not as extensive as the majors.
McCann has been available to Collins for whenever he has questions.
“James has helped me a lot with that in seeing how he does the scouting reports and how he gets prepared for the games, [it’s] definitely kind of brought a whole new life to behind the plate,” Collins said.
As Collins is getting more comfortable behind the plate, his confidence at it has wavered.
In his second stint with the Sox, Collins, who went 0-for-2 as a designated hitter in Thursday’s 6-3 loss to the Royals, has struggled offensively, going 2-for-19 (.105) in seven games since his September call-up.
“The numbers I want to put up aren’t there,” said Collins, who batted .282 with 19 home runs, 19 doubles, one triple and 74 RBI with Class AAA Charlotte this season. “At first, I was kind of frustrated but now I’m just going to continue to work ... and learn from each experience.”
Manager Rick Renteria believes Collins just needs more reps to get into rhythm. He’ll have Collins catch two of the Sox’ games against the Mariners this weekend.
“We’re taking every opportunity and allowing him to get as much experience as possible in different modes and see if we can build on some of the things he had corrected and improved upon when he went back down to Charlotte,” Renteria said. “[We’re going to] see if we can key on that confidence and get him going.”
