Phillies ink 34th overall draft pick Collier
Chino Hills High School's Zach Collier signed a contract with the Philadelphia Phillies Friday night, according to his father, Clarence Collier. The terms were not disclosed.
The 34th overall pick of the June 5 Major League Baseball draft and Inland Valley Player of the Year reported to the Phillies' rookie-level Gulf Coast League team in Clearwater, Fla., on Sunday.
Last year's 34th overall selection, Todd Frazier of the Cincinnati Reds, received a signing bonus of $825,000.
Collier, who had open heart surgery at the end of his sophomore season when a birth defect was discovered after he collapsed following baseball practice, hit .450 as a senior with seven home runs and 24 RBI in 80 at-bats.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound left fielder seemed to shoot up the draft charts as a senior after laying low follwing the risky operation on a pinched coronary artery. Out of baseball for seven months after surgery, he dipped below the MLB radar. Even after a full junior season at Chino Hills, he elected not to try and bolster his draft status through the showcase circiut during the 2007 summer.
The Colliers seem like a conservative family, but really they couldn't have played their cards any better. Without rushing him into unnecessary high-pressure situations, Zach's draft status peaked at the exact right time. Before the draft, one MLB scout, who wouldn't directly address Collier, told me that few if any players in Southern California go unnoticed considering the prestegious showcase circiut. Naturally, MLB scouts try to keep players a secret as long as possible.
In other words, Collier's name may not have been out there as much as other touted prospects, but nobody was overlooking this kid. He was going high in the draft whether anybody outside of a war room knew it or not.