Darryl Collins

Darryl James Collins

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 185 lb.

• Born September 16, 2001 in Spijkenisse Netherlands

BR register page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Darryl Collins has played in the US and the Netherlands. He is the grandson of Jan Collins, a long-time player and coach in the Hoofdklasse. His father Victor Collins and brother Darnell Collins also have played there.

Darryl Collins debuted in the 2017 Hoofdklasse, going 0 for 1 at age 16. He was used as a pinch-runner when Neptunus won the 2017 Holland Series, scoring twice in three games. In Game 1, he ran for Benjamin Dille and scored the winner on a wild pitch. He was 3 for 6 with a walk, triple and 3 RBI when Neptunus won the 2018 European Champions Cup, tripling in two off Kevin Kelly of ASD Rimini in the finale.

He excelled for the Netherlands when they won the 2018 European U-18 Championship, hitting .520/.567/.920 with 8 runs and 11 RBI in six games. He was 3rd in the round-robin phase in average (.571, after Frank Hernández and Sean Scanlon), 2nd in slugging (1.048, behind Scanlon), 8th in OBP, tied for 8th in runs, first in hits, tied for first in RBI, tied for 4th in doubles, tied for first in triples, tied for first in homers and first in total bases (22, 4 ahead of teammate Ruendrick Piternella). He did not win the tournament MVP, which went to teammate Nolan Beugeling.

Collins produced at a .418/.510/.532 clip in the 2018 Hoofdklasse and stole 12 bases in 14 tries. Had he qualified for the batting title, he would have won by .011 over Dwayne Kemp and the OBP title by .041 over Tijmen Takke. He also played error-free defense. He won the Ron Fraser Award. He scored the first run of the 2018 Holland Series but hit only .200/.227/.200, though Neptunus won the title.

The Spijkenisse native was signed by Kansas City Royals scouts Nick Leto and Rene Francisco. He hit a fine .320/.401/.436 for the AZL Royals, not quite making the Arizona League top-10 in average or OBP but tying for 4th with 7 triples. He tied Brewer Hicklen for 4th in the Royals chain in three-baggers. In the 2019 U-18 Baseball World Cup, he had 3 RBI in a win over Nicaragua, 3 hits and 3 RBI against China, scored both runs in a 2-1 win over Panama and drove in four against South Africa. He finished at .345/.412/.759 with 8 runs, 12 RBI and 7 extra-base hits in 8 games, handling 16 chances in left without an error. He tied for 8th in runs, tied for 4th in doubles (4), tied for the home run lead (2, even with Robert Hassell, Junya Nishi, Owen Diodati and Ju-hong Park), was 2nd in RBI (2 behind Hassell), was 2nd in total bases (22, 9 behind Hassell) and was second to Hassell in slugging. He joined Hassell and Pete Crow-Armstrong as the event's All-Star outfielders. Despite all that, he did not lead the Netherlands in OPS as Ryson Polonius was higher!

When the minor league season was shut down for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he returned to Neptunus. He hit .352/.444/.537 in the COVID-shortened 2020 Hoofdklasse. He was 8th in average (between Kalian Sams and Sharlon Schoop), 8th in slugging (between Gilmer Lampe and John Polonius), tied Max Draijer for the triple lead (3) and tied for 7th in steals (5). He did not appear in the 2020 Holland Series before it was cancelled after two games due to COVID precautions.