Michael Collins (baseball)

Michael John Collins (born 18 July 1984 in Canberra, Australia) is an Australian baseball manager with the Lake Elsinore Storm in the San Diego Padres organisation. He plays first base as well as catcher. As coach of the Canberra Cavalry, in 2012–13 he took the team to win the Claxton Shield as Champions of the Australian Baseball League, and Champions of the 2013 Asia Series.

Collins debuted in the minor leagues in 2001 at the age of 16 with the AZL Angels. In the 2002 Claxton Shield, the Canberra native played for the Australian Provincial team. In 2002, the teenager hit .275 in his return trip, alternating between catcher, first base and DH. In 2003 in the USA, Collins batted .333 for the Provo Angels and .368 for the AZL Angels.

In his 2004 campaign, Collins struggled, hitting .218 in only 13 games for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. In 2005, Michael hit .444, third-best in the Claxton Shield and was named as the All-Star catcher. Collins fared better in his second year at Cedar Rapids, producing at a .320/.412/.482 clip with 16 steals and 32 doubles while splitting time between catcher (59 games) and first base (40). He finished third in the Midwest League in batting average and made the league All-Star team at catcher.

In the 2006 Shield, Collins hit .438/.538/.700 in five games. Due to his Claxton Shield performance, he was added to the Australia national baseball team for the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Collins was 0 for 4 in the event.

Collins hit .291 for the 2006 Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and was promoted to Arkansas Travelers in 2007. He last played for the Portland Beavers of the AAA Pacific Coast League.

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