(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Robert Bos)
  Darryl Collins and Denzel Bryson active in Rookie League
Nederlands
  SURPRISE, Arizona / NORTH PORT, Florida (USA) -
Dutch players Darryl Collins and Denzel Bryson have recently made their debut in professional baseball.
Collins plays in the organization of the Kansas City Royals, Bryson plays for Atlanta Braves.
...Darryl Collins playing for Neptunus in 2018...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Darryl Collins was signed by the Royals on August 26 last year.
After being in Minor League Extended Spring Training, the outfielder was assigned to the AZL Royals on June 18.
AZL Royals plays in the West Division of the Arizona League, which is at the Rookie League-level and opened its season on June 17.
The AZL Royals had Opening Day on June 18 and won at home with a 12-7 score against AZL Brewers Blue, one of the two teams in this league belonging to Milwaukee Brewers.
Other organizations with two teams in this league are Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants.
In the Opening Day-game, Collins was the starting leftfielder and batted third in the batting order.
In his debut, he was 2-for-5 with a double and batted in two runs.
Collins grounded out in this first at bat in the first inning and popped out in the third inning.
With the score tied at 4-4, the Royals rallied for five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
In this at bat, Collins contributed with a runscoring single.
After striking out in the sixth inning, Collins delivered an RBI-double in the eighth inning.
For Collins, this game was the start of a successful series of games.
Since his debut on June 18, Collins had a hitting streak of fourteen games in which he played.
During the streak, Collins was 3-for-3 on June 28 wit two walks and two RBI's.
On that day, the Royals won 10-3 against AZL Dodgers Mota, which is named after Dodger-legend Manny Mota.
The other Dodger-team in this league is named after legendary Major League-Manager Tom Lasorda.
In this game, the score was tied at 3-3 when the Royals rallied for seven runs in the seventh inning.
Collins started the rally with a lead-off single and later scored the go-ahead run.
Later in the inning, Collins hit a runscoring single.
The streak ended on Thursday (July 11) when he was 0-for-2 in a 3-1 loss against AZL Indians Red.
The 17-year old Collins (he turns 18 in September) scored the lone run for the Royals and also walked twice.
So far, Darryl Collins has played in 15 games and is hitting .386 (22-for-57) with one double and two triples.
He scored six runs and batted in nine.
Collins is the second best hitter of his team.
The AZL Royals are in sixth place in the West Division with a 10-9 record.
Collins made his debut in the Dutch big league in 2017, playing in two games for Curaçao Neptunus.
Last season, he played in 28 games and batted .418 (33-for-79) with 14 runs batted in.
Collins didn't play for the Rotterdam-team this year.
...Denzel Bryson playing for HCAW in 2018...
(© Photo: Robert Bos) |
Catcher Denzel Bryson was signed by the Braves last year on October 3.
After completion of Minor League Extended Spring Training, Bryson was assigned to the GCL Braves, which plays in the Gulf Coast League, which also is at the Rookie League-level.
Bryson made his debut on June 24 in a 17-9 loss against GCL Orioles (Baltimore Orioles).
He entered the game in the top of the eighth inning, replacing starting catcher Wiston Cerrato.
The 18-year old Bryson got his lone at bat in the bottom of the eighth and then flied out to leftfield.
Since June 24, Bryson has played in five more games.
Two days later, he was the designated hitter for the Braves in an 1-0 loss against GCL Red Sox (Boston Red Sox).
He was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and walked once.
That walk came in the fifth inning with two outs.
He then stole second base and advanced to third base on a throwing error by the catcher, but was left behind.
In his next game, Bryson was used as a pinch-hitter in the top of the eighth inning and was the catcher in the bottom of the eighth in a 5-0 loss against GCL Rays (Tampa Bay Rays).
Hereafter, he was the designated hitter again in two games.
Bryson played his last game so far on Friday, July 5 in a 7-4 loss at GCL Rays.
He then caught the eighth inning for the Braves and led off the ninth with a walk and scored a run.
In the following days, four games have been postponed by rain, while two others have been suspended due to wet grounds.
After not being able to play on July 6-9, the team played on Wednesday (5-4 win), but Bryson didn't play in that game.
The scheduled games for Thursday and Friday also were cancelled again by rain.
Since making his professional debut, Denzel Bryson has played in six games so far and is hitless in 13 at bats.
He scored once, walked twice and struckout five times.
The GCL Braves are in sixth and last place of the South Division of the Gulf Coast League with a 4-7 record.
The team plays its home-games at CoolToday Park in North Port, Florida, south of Sarasota, which is the new Spring Training home of the Atlanta Braves.
This new stadium, with a capacity of 6,200, opened this year on March 24.
Last season, Denzel Bryson played for HCAW in the Dutch big league.
He then played in 25 games and batted .197 (14-for-71) with five runs batted in.
Bryson made his Dutch big league-debut in 2016, playing in six games for Twins Oosterhout.
He played in 25 games (hitting .210) for Twins in 2017 before transfering to HCAW.
(July 12)
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