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Kevin Collard showed Thursday why representatives from 15 Major League Baseball teams stopped by his house in Vista, California, this spring ahead of the 2015 draft.
鈥淢y adviser said I could go really high,鈥� said Collard, who graduated last week from high school.
The Victoria HarbourCats can only be happy he deferred, enabling him to be playing at Royal Athletic Park, where he hit the team鈥檚 first home run of the West Coast League season in a 4-2 victory over the Kitsap Blue Jackets.
Collard also had a double, single, three RBIs and two runs scored Thursday. He is hitting .667 in three games for Victoria with eight hits in 12 at-bats, including his homer and two doubles, with four RBIs and four runs scored.
鈥淭hat kid can absolutely play,鈥� HarbourCats pitcher Mikey Wright said.
Baseball players can enter the draft twice 鈥� in Grade 12 and after their junior year in college. Collard has opted to play for the University of San Diego, a team which has sent several players to Victoria for summer ball during the past three years.
鈥淚 decided three more years of development was really important for me,鈥� said Collard, a six-foot outfielder.
HarbourCats head coach Graig Merritt, also a scout for the Tampa Bay Rays, had Collard pegged for between the fifth and 10th rounds of this year鈥檚 recently completed MLB draft, in which 56 WCL players were selected.
鈥淚 feel with my decision to play in college, I can go even higher than that [in the 2018 MLB draft],鈥� said Collard.
鈥淚 have a lot to improve on, and my family values education,鈥� added the honours student, who will major in business at USD.
Collard laced into the ball Thursday in going yard.
鈥淚t was an inside fastball and I took advantage of it,鈥� he said of his home run. 鈥淚 knew it was going out when I hit it.鈥�
Collard first came to Victoria two years ago on a stop during an Alaskan cruise. Little did he know then he was destined to return and that his baseball journey would take him through the sa国际传媒 capital.
鈥淲hen he matures a bit more, he is going to move up higher than the fifth round for the [2018] draft,鈥� Merritt predicted.
鈥淗e is a very special player and we are blessed to have him.鈥�
HarbourCats starter Alex Rogers, headed in the fall to North Dakota State of the NCAA, took his second win of the season against no losses. The Nanaimo product went six innings and allowed four hits and one run with four strikeouts and one walk.
鈥淐ollard and Rogers set the tone for us today,鈥� Merritt said.
Rogers was happy for the hitting support Collard provided.
鈥淚鈥檓 glad he鈥檚 on our side,鈥� Rogers quipped.
Collard鈥檚 father, Tom, is vice-president of information technology for golf-club manufacturer TaylorMade. Kevin Collard does not play golf because he doesn鈥檛 want it to mess with his baseball swing. Smart move, because the latter is what could carry him to something big in sports.
Thursday鈥檚 game was a mid-week, workday matinee that attracted 1,179 fans to RAP, including about 400 school kids on the best kind of field trip. Such games are a tradition in baseball.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a businessman鈥檚 special,鈥� Victoria GM Jim Swanson said.
鈥淏aseball is meant to be played under the sun. This is what it鈥檚 supposed to be. Everyone is smiling and having a good time.鈥�
Victoria now embarks on its first road trip of the season, dipping down into Oregon for three games against the Bend Elks beginning tonight.
That is followed by a three-game set starting Monday against the Cowlitz Black Bears from Kelso and Longview in southern Washington state.
