Tim Collins And The Disappearing Strikes

Tim Collins was an exciting prospect mostly due to his excellent walk and strikeout totals in the minors. In 2010 (with three different teams) he had four strikeouts for every walk. Through his first six big league appearances, he showed that control with 10 strikeouts to three walks. Ned Yost has shown supreme confidence in Collins, calling on him in over half of the team's games so far. His 28 appearances lead the American League. Unfortunately, his trademark control is deserting him, which may or may not be due to overwork. His K/BB rate is way down to 1.29. It seems clear that Yost needs to back off Collins in the hopes his control will return. Yost bringing Collins in yesterday for seven outs when the Royals were trailing by 10 runs was bewildering.

He has now thrown strikes at a rate of just 58%, well below the AL average of 63%, and the worst among Royals pitchers on the active roster. He has remained mostly effective as teams have not been hitting him hard, but it may only be a matter of time before the increase in walks and decrease in strikeouts comes back to bite him and his team. With an eight man bullpen, there is no excuse to continue riding Collins so hard.

Royals pitchers with at least 150 pitches through May 28

Jeremy Jeffress was sent to Omaha to work on command, but even he was throwing more strikes than Collins. Collins has earned more leeway since he has shown great control in the minors, and I am not in favor of demoting Collins. Just give the guy a little rest.