Collier’s power surge peaked during the Dragons’ last homestand against Fort Wayne with four homers, including two in one game. He also leads the league with 25 RBIs, is hitting .296 and slugging .617.
“Potential and future big-leaguer,” Dragons first baseman Ruben Ibarra said of the Reds’ 2022 first-round draft choice. “He’s top notch.”
While the homers make for a wow factor for any young left-handed hitting third baseman, what impresses Dragons manager Vince Harrison is Collier’s consistent hitting approach to drive the baseball for singles or home runs.
Harrison remembers a key Collier at-bat in the third game of the season on April 7 against Lansing. Collier singled up the middle to start a ninth-inning walk-off rally. Then on April 18 against Fort Wayne, Collier singled to start the ninth and scored the tying run. However, the Dragons lost in the 10th.
What especially stood out in the Fort Wayne game about Collier’s approach is that he had already hit two homers in the game.
“It’s real easy for a 19-year-old to go up there and over swing, try to tie the game,” Harrison said. “He just stayed with his approach, smoked the ball up the middle and kept the train running. There’s a reason he was drafted where he was.”
Collier is the youngest Dragon and one of the youngest players in the league. He won’t turn 20 until late November. His advanced development is a product of his talent and the tutelage of Lou Collier, his father and former major-leaguer. Collier likes hearing his dad’s perspective, which has often helped him get out of any dry hitting spells.
But Collier listens to others, too. During this past offseason he worked out with Atlanta Braves outfielder Michael Harris II and Oakland Athletics outfielder Lawrence Butler. Those mentors and the coaching he gets in the Reds’ organization have made Collier a student of the game.
“I’ve always been somebody that’s going to listen to anything someone tells them because you never know what can help you put your game to the next level,” Collier said. “So I’m always open ears to anybody, my dad, any coach I’ve had.”
One thing Collier and all of the Dragons hear from Harrison is to focus on the approach they take to each at-bat, to be consistent with their approach and to not focus on numbers.
“The youth sometimes buys into the result,” Harrison said. “When the guys figure out who they are they can be convicted in who they are and not try to be somebody else or get too tied up in situations.”
Harrison said Collier’s development of his consistent hitting approach is also helped by going through his first spring training and having played over 100 games in his first professional summer.
And there’s the power.
On April 12 at Cedar Rapids, Collier hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning to lift the Dragons to a 5-3 victory.
“I just wanted to get them in or get them over,” Collier said. “So just to be able to hit the ball out like that, it was amazing. I felt it off the my bat and knew it was going to go out.”
Collier knows that feeling better than anyone in the league.
TUESDAY’S GAME
West Michigan at Dayton, 7:05 p.m., 980
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