(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Robert Bos)
 Neptunus-outfielder Darnel Collins signs with Kansas City Royals
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
Dutch outfielder Darnel Collins has signed a contract with Kansas City Royals.
The Major League-organization announced the international signing officially on Saturday (January 23).
The club then also announced that he was assigned for the upcoming season to DSL Royals 1, a Rookie League-team of the Royals in the Dominican Republic.
With that, Collins follows in the footsteps of his brother Darryl Collins, who also plays in the minors for Kansas City.
When the corona-measures allow it, the two Collins-brothers will report to Minor League Spring Training in Arizona, somewhere in February or March.
...Darnel Collins hitting for Neptunus in his Dutch...
...big league-debut on August 18, 2020...
(© Photo: Robert Bos) |
18-year old Darnel Collins played in the youth-teams of Unicorns, then became a player of Neptunus Tridents, which is the second team of this Rotterdam-based club.
In 2019, he was added to the team-roster of the main-squad of Neptunus for the Holland Series, but didn't play.
Last year, on August 18, Darnel made his debut in the Dutch big league.
He went on to play in two games in the regular season and was 0-for-2.
Next, Darnel played in one game of the Top-4 Pool and also was 0-for-2.
In 2019, Darnel Collins played for the Netherlands Under-15 Team in the European U15 Championship in Nettuno (Italy).
During the event, Collins was the second-best hitter of the Orange Team with a .438 batting average.
He hit one homerun, scored seven runs and led the team witn ten runs batted in.
The Netherlands finished in third place after being eliminated for the Final by Italy, losing 5-3.
In the Final, Germany defeated Italy 10-3 to capture the European title.
Darnel's 19-year old brother Darryl Collins signed with Kansas City on August 26, 2018.
He then made his professional debut in 2019 after being assigned to AZL Royals in the Arizona League (Rookie League).
In that season, Darryl (like his brother an outfielder) played in 48 games and batted .320 (58-for-181) with seven doubles and seven triples.
He scored 24 runs and batted in 25.
Last year, the entire Minor League-season was cancelled due to the coronavirus-pandemic.
Collins then got permission to play again for Neptunus in the Dutch big league.
He played in 16 games and batted .352.
Collins then played in only three games for Neptunus in the following Top-4 Pool, as he returned to the USA to play in Instructional League.
Also on January 23, Milwaukee Brewers announced the signing of 16-year old catcher/outfielder Egduard Winterdaal from Aruba.
Winterdaal played for Aruba during the Junior League World Series in the USA in the past.
Arizona Diamondbacks announced the signing of short stop Jakey Josepha from Curaçao.
All signings were scheduled for International Signing Day on July 2 last year, but due to the coronavirus-measures, this was pushed back to this month.
(January 23)
|
