I also think Collins is severely underrated around here even though he got quite a bit of support in the Collnis thread. I suppose the negative voices are the loudest because everyone is unsure about his catching and he looked bad the 1st time up.
Someone like Mendick didn't set the world on fire at Charlotte at least not the way Collins did and he did great in his SSS time with the Sox. Plus Collins put up crazy numbers in July and August when he went back down and finished with very strong numbers in his last 8 games with the Sox (yes very SSS and cherry picking).
Remember the Sox got Colome for Narvaez and he was a terrible catcher with good OBP and limited power (supposedly) with not much of a minor league track record. Obviously a late bloomer who the Sox thought they were selling high but turns out they sold low on him. Compare what Collins did in the minors to Narvaez and Collins blows him away. I think Collins has a lot of value being a LH , high OBP power bat even with questionable catching skills Do we really think he is worth any less than Narvaez was even with Narvaez having been in the bigs for a few years but with only around 700 PA's but showing a slight uptick every year before he was traded. The whole reason why we are all so stoked about getting Grandal is he is a scarcity, a good hitting switch hitting catcher w/ great framing skills and high OBP but he's an otherwise mediocre catcher defensively.
Collins has a chance, in my view, tobe a strong part of what makes Grandal so rare, good hitter, high OBP and likely even more power. so all he has to do is become a good framer and everyone will be able to live with mediocre catching skills like they do with Grandal. Now is not the time to start dealing prospects for veterans . I could however see a prospects for prospects trade for a LH/SH hitting OF who is ML ready.
Sam Hilliard who had a big season in AAA then came up with the Rockies and performed well, is a big LH with big power and a high K rate who despite his size (6'5" 238) is pretty fast and a good arm. Of course it's possible the Rocks rather move Charlie Blackmon than Hilliard. Blackmon's defense is pretty shoddy .
The Rockies also have another AAA guy who got a look in the bigs, Jonathon Daza . He bats RH, doesn't K much, hits for high average but limited power. Defensively he's described as a ballhawk and has a 70 grade arm. He played CF in the Rockies system. Hilliard isi the 9th rated prospect and Daza 10th in the Rockies system. Both are 25 yrs old.
Anyone interested in looking at these guys can go here : http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2019?list=col