Michael Collins

From BR Bullpen

Michael John Donald Collins

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 3", Weight 190-213 lb.

High School Daramalan College

Born July 18, 1984 in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia

Michael Collins has reached AA in the minors (through 2007) and has played for the Australian national team.

Collins debuted in the minor leagues in 2001 with the AZL Angels, hitting .179/.256/.179. In the 2002 Claxton Shield, the Canberra native hit .294/.294/.353 for the Australian Provincial team. In 2002, the teenager hit .275/.353/.353 in a return trip, alternating between catcher, first base and DH. He hit .180/.353/.313 in the 2003 Claxton Shield. That year in the USA, Collins batted .333/.353/.447 for the Provo Angels and .368/.409/.553 for the AZL Angels.

In the 2004 campaign, Collins struggled, hitting .218/.323/.300 for the Cedar Rapids Kernels and only playing 13 games in the field. In 2005, Michael hit .444, third-best in the Claxton Shield and was named as the All-Star catcher. Collins fared better in his second year at Cedar Rapids, producing at a .320/.412/.482 clip with 16 steals and 32 doubles while splitting time between catcher (59 games) and first base (40). He finished third in the Midwest League in batting average behind Eric Patterson and Tonys Gutierrez and made the league All-Star team at catcher.

In the 2006 Shield, Collins hit .438/.538/.700 with 5 runs and 4 RBI in five games. Thanks to his fine performance, he was added to the Australian team for the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Collins was 0 for 4 in the event. He started at catcher against Venezuela; he struck out against Kelvim Escobar and ground out against Tony Armas Jr. before Matthew Kent replaced him. Against the Dominican national team, he pinch-hit for DH Brett Roneberg in the sixth and ground out against Daniel Cabrera. He stayed in and later flew out against Robinson Tejeda.

Collins hit .291/.371/.400 for the 2006 Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and was hit by 33 pitches. He also drove in 82 runs. He led the California League in times hit by pitch. Landon Powell beat him out for the All-Star nod at catcher. In the 2007 Claxton Shield, Michael hit .333/.440/.524 with 5 RBI in five games to lead the Provincials.

In 2007, Collins struggled in the US, batting only .242/.286/.333 with 12 walks to 70 strikeouts in 119 games. Worse, he was now playing only first base, where those numbers were clearly inferior. In the 2007 Baseball World Cup, he hit .217/.296/.261 as a 1B-DH for Australia.