2025 South Side Sox Top Prospect No. 62: Bryce Collins

With an improvement in his command, this righty could become a bullpen staple

Bryce Collins

Right-Handed Relief Pitcher
6´0´´
200 pounds
Age: 24
First appearance in the South Side Sox Top 100
2024 High Level Winston-Salem (A+)
Age relative to high level +1.0 years
SSS rank among all right-handed relief pitchers in the system 7
Overall 2024 stats 1-0 ⚾️ 34 games (12 finishes) ⚾️ 5 SV ⚾️ 45 innings ⚾️ 2.40 ERA ⚾️ 1.267 WHIP ⚾️ 65 K ⚾️ 22 BB

Bryce Collins was originally drafted by the Minnesota Twins, right out of high school, in the 39th round of the 2018 MLB Draft. Collins ultimately decided to go to college first, and continued his baseball career at the University of Arizona. He spent one season there prior to transferring to the SEC at Louisiana State University, playing alongside several MLB draftees (including the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year, Paul Skenes).

Collins appeared in seven games for Arizona in the 2018 season, starting four and relieving for three. In 22 1⁄3 innings, he posted a 5.24 ERA with three homers, 23 hits, and 16 strikeouts. He struggled with walks with the Wildcats, walking nearly the same amount of batters as he struck out (15), bringing him to a 1.701 WHIP. Collins ended up with an arm injury that kept him out for the next two seasons, which could very well have contributed to the weaker performance as a freshman.

Collins joined the LSU Tigers for the 2022 and 2023 seasons as a redshirt sophomore and junior, respectively, and in 2022 he showed a lot of improvement. In 20 games (32 1⁄3 innings), he completed the season with a 3.62 ERA and greatly improved his strikeout rate from 2018, up to 25.2% compared to 14.8% at Arizona. Walks were unfortunately still a bit of a problem — Collins improved his walk rate by just 0.3%, from 2018 (13.61%) to 2022 (13.9%), leaving plenty of room for improvement in this area.

In his final season at LSU, Collins seemingly regressed a bit, and posted a really rough 9.18 ERA across 16 2⁄3 innings in 16 appearances. He was still striking out batters pretty efficiently (21.6 K%), but his walk rate ballooned all the way up to 18.2% alongside a brutal 1.920 WHIP — not great, fam. On the bright side, LSU won the National Championship in 2023, so there are certainly worse consolation prizes.

The good news for Collins is that the Chicago White Sox realized that Collins had something more than could be seen in the stats, and they signed him to a minor league deal prior to last season.

And the Sox have been proven right. Bryce joined the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers in Low-A and completely bounced back from where he ended his collegiate career at LSU. He appeared in 11 games and 14 innings with a 3.21 ERA and struck out 24 of 61 batters at a 39% clip. Moreover, Collins walked just six batters, which was certainly an improvement in comparison to previous years. This performance earned Collins a promotion up to the High-A Winston Salem Dash, where he finished out the season.

In terms of keeping runs from crossing the plate, Collins was even better at this at the next level, working a 2.03 ERA across 23 High-A games and 31 innings. He melded more into a closer role, as he finished 10 games and earned five saves. Collins’ WHIP was the lowest it’s ever been, at 1.194, and he still maintained a strikeout rate over 30%. Once again, however, the dreaded walk rate pushed back up to 12.4%, though he continuously avoided chaos and left runners on base 82% of the time.

Collins’ fastball tops out at around 96 mph, and he also has a slider and curveball in his arsenal — and his curveball looks like it could be one hell of a pitch given its movement — typically averaging in the upper 70s to low 80s; his curve shows an 18-inch vertical drop at a projected 86% efficiency, with 2500 rpms. If I was a batter, I would want nothing to do with that.

Tread Athletics

Collins’ Baseball Cube player ratings
Durability 92
Strikeouts 75
Hittable 73
vs. Power 73
K/BB 41
Walks 26
Average 63.33

Collins’ overall ratings are pretty solid, showing his efficiency with regards to strikeouts and keeping runners from scoring. The righty also has been healthy since returning from his injury in 2019, and if he can keep that up he’ll be a weapon out of the bullpen throughout his career.

The one category that brings down his overall rating is the walks, which has been his M.O. since he began playing. Collins will need to work hard in the offseason on his command, to decrease walks next year and maintain consistency within the strike zone.

While he could break camp in Winston-Salem, given his age and success Collins should be ticketed for Double-A sooner than later.

---

2025 South Side Sox Top 100 White Sox Prospects

100. Cole McConnell, CF
99. Drake Logan, LF
98. Marcelo Alcala, RF
97. Lyle Miller-Green, 1B
96. Jared Kelley, RHRP
95. Adrian Gil, 1B
94. Adam Hackenberg, C
93. Loidel Chapelli, 2B
92. Eddie Park, CF
91. Chase Plymell, RHRP
90. Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa, RHRP
89. Tristan Stivors, RHRP
88. Pierce George, RHRP
87. Wes Kath, 3B
86. Daniel González, LHRP
85. Mikey Kane, 1B
84. Shane Murphy, LHSP
83. Connor McCullough, RHSP
82. Braden Shewmake, SS
81. Caleb Freeman, RHRP
80. Michael Turner, C
79. Drew McDaniel, RHSP
78. Jurdrick Profar, SS
77. Reudis Diaz, RHSP
76. Phil Fox, RHRP
75. Terrell Tatum, CF
74. Calvin Harris, C
73. Jacob Burke, CF
72. Alec Makarewicz, 1B
71. Carson Jacobs, RHRP
70. Nick Altermatt, RHRP
69. Drew Dalquist, RHRP
68. Zach Franklin, RHRP
67. Fraser Ellard, LHRP
66. Gil Luna, LHRP
65. T.J. McCants, CF
64. Stiven Flores, C
63. Tanner McDougal, RHSP
62. Bryce Collins, RHRP