CLEVELAND – Catcher Zack Collins was in the lineup a second straight day as the designated hitter since getting called up, an indicator of the Sox’ intention to see if the adjustments he made at Class AAA Charlotte after a 2-for-26 showing in June and July are working.
The No. 10 overall pick in the 2016 draft, Collins drove in a run with single in the first against All-Star right-hander Shane Bieber, walked and struck out in the Sox’ 8-6 loss to the Indians Wednesday at Progressive Field. That followed a 1-for-3 night with a walk and a triple off the center field wall in a 6-5 win Tuesday, when the struggling Sox (61-78) broke a seven-game losing streak.
General manager Rick Hahn said Collins will play more in this his second tour.
“Zack’s ability to fill three spots for us, catcher, first base and DH leads me to suspect there is going to be more opportunities for him here over the next few weeks than the first time around,” Hahn said.
Hahn has unsuccessfully tried with trades and free agents but hasn’t provided an answer for the designated hitter vacuum since Adam Dunn in 2012, who slugged 41 homers while batting .204 that season. This year is no exception, with a dozen DHs combining to hit .191/.271/.318 with 11 homers. Collins’ lacking defense behind the plate prompted the Sox to work him at first base, where he is far from a finished product, and they’d be delighted to see him prove himself as a competent DH.
The Sox wanted the left-handed hitting Collins, who hit .244 over four minor league seasons with a .385 on-base percentage that was beefed up by his good batting eye – he walked 101 times at AA Birmingham in 2018 – to think more aggressively and work on covering the outer half of the plate.
It still hasn’t reached a comfort level, Collins said.
“I’ve been doing it for a little over a month now and still it’s something I have to come to the field every day and continue to work on,” Collins said. “Even though the numbers have shown otherwise, I still have to get comfortable with it and continue to work on perfecting it.
“Pitchers just dotting the outside half up here was kind of a challenge for me when I came up. Learning how to adjust to that was probably the biggest thing.”
Collins batted.282/.403/.548 with 19 homers, 19 doubles and 74 RBI over 88 games at Charlotte. The Sox would take that kind of production at the next level.
Another DH possibility would be first baseman Jose Abreu, who collected his 29th homer of the season and the 400th extra base hit of his career, giving him 106 RBI this season.
Joining Collins (who batted ninth) in the starting lineup a second night was fellow call-up Daniel Palka, whose nightmarish season interrupted by much more productive times at Charlotte continued with the Sox. Palka struck out twice, hit into a double play, grounded out and is 1-for-53.
According to Stats By STATS, the only other position player in the live-ball era to start a season with one hit or fewer in his first 50 at-bats of a season was Mike Garbark of the Yankees in 1945, who was 1-for-50. Palka led the Sox with 27 home runs last season.
The Sox rallied with two runs in the eighth and ninth after right-hander Ivan Nova gave up six runs on 11 hits over 4 1⁄3 innings and committing an error trying to double off Yasiel Puig from first. Center fielder Leury Garcia had a rough night, turning the wrong way on a couple of deep liners over his head, making a circus catch on one in front of him and taking an indirect route on Roberto Perez pop up that fell in front of him for a single. Palka, playing right field, may have had a chance but gave way to the faster Garcia on the play.
Garcia also checked up and got caught in a rundown between third and home on an Abreu grounder to third baseman Yu Chang.
