to say the least.
The
Philadelphia Phillies, among others, took notice, selecting him with
the 34th overall pick of the 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year
Player draft on June 5. Collier signed with the team Wednesday.
While most players of his age and ability were playing in
high-profile showcases, Collier laid low his junior season and into the
summer. He came out of hiding as a senior.
Collier hit
.450 with seven home runs and 24 RBI in just 80 at-bats to lead Chino
Hills to the Sierra League championship, earning him Inland Valley
Player of the Year honors.
That's an RBI every 3.3 at-bats and a home run every 11.4 at-bats.
The
highlights are plentiful, be it Collier's two-home run game against
Sierra League rival Damien that he ended with a walk-off shot. There
was the home run he hit off Long Beach Wilson fireballer Aaron Hicks,
the 14th pick of the draft, that landed in the street outside Cal State
Fullerton's stadium.
"This year was definitely the best I've done in high school," Collier said. "I'm pretty much living the dream right now."
Two years ago, Collier could have settled for simply living.
Following
heart surgery, he wasn't allowed to work out for four months. Three
months later, with no guarantees, he was cleared to play baseball.
Collier experienced more than a little trepidation once
back on the field, but that was nothing compared to the anxiety of
those around him.
"If he got a double and he looked like he was breathing
hard, we'd send in a pinch runner," Billingsley said. "But once he got
back into it, you could see how much it meant to him. Before the
surgery he was good but he came back like a man on fire. It was really
a turning point for him."
Major League Baseball scouts later said they wondered what
happened to the promising Chino Hills sophomore that tripped their
radar, according Zach's father, Clarence Collier.
Even after his junior season at Chino Hills, the Colliers
decided to avoid the showcase events, opting to place Zach on a fairly
reputable travel ball team that began to put him back on the map.
"He missed that junior summer when they start scouting the
top prospects," Clarence Collier said. "We didn't go on the showcase
circuit the summer after that either. We weren't too concerned with
that. We didn't want to put him under the microscope before he was
ready. We just wanted to let him find his game again."
Collier found his game and the scouts found him.
Each mock draft leading up to the MLB draft seemed to have Collier going higher than the one preceding it.
Billingsley guessed Collier was a fifth-round draft choice before his senior season performance shot him up the charts.
Collier will join the Phillies' rookie-level team in Clearwater, Fla., next week.
When he was selected on draft day, Collier sent a text message to Billingsley that read: My life starts now.
Not that anyone is counting how many times his life has started, but he seems to be approaching a few.
OTHER SGV ARSENAL PLAYERS NAMED TO THE INLAND VALLEY 1ST TEAM
Jonathan Montoya-Chino Hills
Ricky Oropesa-Etiwanda
