outfielders Darryl Collins #23
Collins gave the Columbia Fireflies their most exciting moment of the 2021 season, a walk- off grand slam in the 10th inning of their Independence Day game, which took place June 26 due to some scheduling oddities. By the end of the year, Collins lost track of who he was though and got a little pull happy, sacrificing some of his all-world contact to try to get a few more homers. This season, he’s started off with a better approach and is showing that his bat is enough to pace the League Leaders in hits if he stays in Columbia.
Jaswel De Los Santos #9 De Los Santos is another young player getting a taste of full season ball early. He turned 20 in January, but showed that he was ready to leave the Arizona Complex League in 2021. He led the ACL Royals Gold in homers (6), games played (41) and average among players who appeared in at least 70% of the ACL Royals Gold’s games (.266). He excelled in the lead-off role where he slashed .313/.389/.563 in 2021. Like Hernandez and Collins last year, he’ll have to adjust to full season baseball, but watch out when he catches on to the older players in the Carolina League.
Erick Peña #21
Peña is this year’s top prospect on the team, according to MLB.com, but he’s used to being a guy who people gush over. He said scouts started telling him he had big league potential when he was about 11 years old. He was the top-ranked International Prospect in the Royals 2019 signing class and is routinely compared to Carlos Beltran. He hit a walk-off homer in the Fireflies season opener, so the sky is the limit for the 19-year-old.
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