Chicago White Sox: 2021 grade for Zack Collins

The Chicago White Sox has a superstar offensive catcher in Yasmani Grandal. His defense was suspect in the second half of the year but many believe it was because of his injury. If he bounces back in 2022 in terms of playing the position, he will be an MVP candidate. However, it is always nice to have a backup catcher that can help.

Seby Zavala is fine but he is just perfect as an organization’s third catcher. The play of Zack Collins made Zavala have to be the second string too much this season. Of course, while Grandal was injured, they were fine as a duo but we all have expected more from Collins and just not gotten it yet.

In 2021, Zack Collins had a slash of .210/.330/.338 for an OPS of .669. He hit four home runs, had 26 RBIs, and had 25 runs scored. All of this came in 231 plate appearances over 78 games. He was also very subpar defensively which needs to be better if the offense you provided is that bad.

The sample size is of a backup catcher but he had a -0.5 WAR. He simply needs to figure it out one way or another. For a former first-round pick (10th overall), we know that he is wildly talented. We can only hope that the White Sox try and resurrect whatever it was that made him successful going into his career. If he could figure it out defensively first and for most, he would be incredibly valuable going forward.

The Chicago White Sox needs to figure out the backup catcher position for 2022.

2021 Final Grade: D

There shouldn’t be any Fs on a team that won the division by 13 games. Zack Collins wasn’t the best but he had some clutch moments with his bat from time to time as well. He gets a D because the season as a whole wasn’t great but there were flashes. He also caught Carlos Rodon’s no-hitter which is a career highlight for him.

He is an easy guy to root for as well because of the adversity that he is facing in terms of his production. He also, along with Zavala, stepped up big when Grandal was out for his surgery. Until he came back, they were a serviceable catching duo which is all you can ask for when your star goes down.

2022 Expectations:

Zack Collins is going to show up to spring training with hopes of having a better year with the White Sox. As of right now, you can probably pencil him in as either the backup or third-string but they might look for more catching help on the market.

Finding someone who is elite defensively without worrying about their bat is probably their best bet based on the Yasmani Grandal scouting report. If Collins can’t be that guy, he might not see much MLB playing time next year so this needs to be a huge offseason for him. Hopefully, he works out because it would be extremely rewarding.