(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Darryl Collins)
  Neptunus-player Darryl Collins signs professional contract
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
Darryl Collins, outfielder of reigning champion Curaçao Neptunus, signed a professional contract with Major League-organization Kansas City Royals on Sunday, August 26 after completion of the game of Neptunus against De Glaskoning Twins at home in Rotterdam.
The 16-year old player will play for Neptunus throughout the remainder of the season before leaving for the USA, the club announced on Monday.
Collins signed the contract in company of Royals-scout Nick Leto.
In a press release, Neptunus stated the first reaction of Collins.
,,This is really fantastic, I had not expected that it would go this quick'', he said.
Darryl Collins is the grandson of Jan Collins, the former catcher and current Bench Coach of Neptunus.
Collins' grandfather played twelve seasons for Neptunus.
After retiring as a player, Collins became of the coaches of the Rotterdam-squad.
Since 1989, he is a member of the coaching-staff of Neptunus.
Collins is playing in his first full big league-season with Neptunus as one of its outfielders.
The rookie played in 28 of the 42 regular season-games of the team and batted .418 (33-for-79) with four doubles, one triple and one homerun.
Collins scored 13 runs, batted in 14 and stole 12 bases.
...Darryl Collins shakes hands with...
...Kansas City Royals-scout Nick Leto...
...after signing the contract...
(© Photo courtesy of Darryl Collins) |
In his final at bat of the regular season, Collins hit his first homerun at the big league-level.
In the home game against L&D Amsterdam Pirates, Neptunus trailed 6-3 halfway the eighth inning, but then came alongside to force extra innings.
With two outs in the bottom of the twelfth inning, with a runner on second base, Collins made contact on the first pitch he saw and hit a 2-run, walk-off homerun that gave Neptunus an 8-6 victory.
With that, Neptunus became the lone team this season without a tie score.
In the first three games of the Championship Pool, Collins is hitting .300 (3-for-10).
Last year, Collins made his debut in the Neptunus-squad, playing in two games, hitting 0-for-1.
He then batted .429 in the following Championship Pool, playing in five games.
Next, Collins played in three games during the Holland Series against Amsterdam Pirates, but didn't get an at bat.
He scored twice as a pinch-runner.
In July of this year, Collins was a member of the Netherlands Under-18 Team that captured the title at the European Under-18 Championship in Grosseto (Italy).
There, he batted .520 (13-for-25), which was then second highest average of the team behind Ruendrick Piternella, who also is a teammate of Collins at Neptunus.
Collins recorded three doubles, two triples and a homerun during the event.
Collins led the team with 13 basehits, scored eight runs and batted in eleven.
Not including the Final, Collins was the third best hitter of the European Championship with a .571 batting average.
He led the tournament with twelve basehits and shared first place with eleven RBI's.
(August 27)
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