Alex wrote an article back in early February about 10 guys who could have a breakout season. He excluded RFR’s top 14 prospects to force us to dig a little deeper. Let’s follow up on that and see how guys 7 8, and 9 are doing on the first day of summer.

Number 10 was LHP TJ Sikkema. I covered TJ Sikkema here.

I covered 7, 8, and 9 here.

So let’s move on to #6, OF Darryl Collins from the Netherlands. Collins was hitting .244/.322/.308 in Quad Cities before diving and hurting his shoulder on June 1. Since then he has been moved to the 60-day injured list. Collins was playing LF and dove toward the foul line reaching his left arm out to catch the ball. He just missed and it looked like his shoulder jammed as he caught himself with his elbow in the turf. He immidiately rolled to his back and clutched his shoulder with his throwing hand. Collins had been battling some injuries previous to this and had only accumulated 87 total plate appearances so it’s tough to judge his season but he can’t breakout with an injury that may have ended his season.

#5 RHP David Sandlin is dealing as a member of the Columbia FireFlies. We can get excited about his break out season. Sandlin has started 12 games and is 4-1 with a 3.26 ERA and 3.45 FIP. He’s been throwing in the mid-90s and has walked only 13 while striking out 79 (which leads the league). That’s 12.1 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9. He has a WHIP of 1.19. Sandlin won the Carolina League Pitcher of the Week Award for the week of June 6-12. It’s time to see Sandlin move up and face hitters as a River Bandit or even a Natural.

IF Lizandro Rodriguez was Alex’s #4 guy poised for a break out season. Rodriguez is listed at number 29 on the Baseball America Royals prospect list. Rodriguez is another one of those international signings that is a defensive first infielder with speed. The Royals hope the switch-hitter can develop but he is NOT having a breakout season. Rodriguez is hitting .204/.325/.321 in 231 plate appearances. His BABIP is .275 which suggests there is room for positive regression. Combine that with a 93 wRC+ and a 55 ranking on his future hit skills from BA and all hope is not lost despite a slow start this season. Hopefully Rodriguez gets it figured out and turns the page for the second half of the FireFlies season.

Image from milb.com. The story was written by John Kocsis Jr. but no photo credit was given.