Cincinnati Reds prospect Cam Collier took the Bryce Harper path to professional baseball
DAYTONA BEACH — Fourteen years ago, a baseball wonderkid dropped out of high school.
At 16 years old, he left the world of proms and algebra because he wanted a head start on his career. He earned his GED and enrolled at a junior college.
And it worked out.
After one standout season of college baseball, the young phenom went first overall in the Major League Baseball Draft a year earlier than originally possible. His peers were still preparing for their senior years of high school. He was 17 and a millionaire.
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Despite the success, no other player had traveled Bryce Harper’s path before or after. It takes a special person and special talent.
Then, Cam Collier came along.
How Cam Collier's decision came about
It was a mutual decision, Collier said.
His dad, Lou, brought up the idea to quit high school and chase baseball a year early. At first, Collier harbored doubts. But he trusted his father.
“Knowing him, if he was putting his faith in me and trusting I could do it, I knew it was something that would be good for me,” Collier said.
Lou spent eight seasons — from 1997 to 2004 — playing for five MLB teams. Since his retirement, he has worked as a professional scout and served as a coach for Team USA during last spring’s World Baseball Classic.
He recognizes talent and knows what it takes to make it. With his son, he saw that early.
Collier started playing baseball when he was 3. Almost from the beginning, he played up, competing against kids two years older than him. He always starred.
As a freshman at Mount Paran Christian School in Kennesaw, Georgia, Collier entrenched himself as the team’s third baseman. But after just 10 games, COVID-19 ended the season.
Still, everyone saw his talent. He earned college offers and committed to the University of Louisville.
As a sophomore in 2021, he hit .434 with 13 home runs, 40 RBIs and 19 stolen bases. His team won the first state championship in program history. It’s something he still thinks about.
“Being able to share that moment with those guys was a blessing,” Collier said. “To win with the coaches and those guys we had, it was probably an experience I’ll never forget.”
But as he continued dominating for his travel ball club and at offseason showcases, his dad realized the high school level wasn’t challenging Collier. ESPN already had rated him the best pure hitter in the 2023 draft class.
So Lou pitched the Harper path.
Cam Collier: 'I knew what my dream was'
That August, Collier announced his intention to reclassify.
“I don’t get asked about it as much now,” Collier said. “But when I was going through the draft process and definitely when I announced it, I was getting asked about it every day. I got asked about it a lot really at the start. Everybody just wanted me to explain what it was because they didn’t really understand …
“I knew what my dream was. I was just trying to go catch it and attain it as fast as I can.”
To be eligible for the MLB Draft, players must either complete high school, one year at a junior college or three years at a four-year institution.
With no school to attend after Collier made his decision, he studied for the GED and trained. He passed all four of the required tests — math, language arts, science and social studies.
“A couple weeks later,” Collier said, “I was at Chipola.”
Cam Collier attended and starred at a top JUCO program
In the spring of 2022, Collier became a full-time student and baseball player at Chipola College, home to one of the best JUCO programs in the country.
“I really never went into it thinking ‘Oh my gosh, these guys are two years older than me,’” he said. “I was so used to playing up my whole life. Once I get a couple pitches, I’m like, ‘Yo, this is the same thing.’ It’s just baseball. You just have to come up to the challenge. It’s going to be harder, but the game of baseball is hard, and you have to change with it.”
At first, life remained semi-normal. Collier kept crushing baseballs, batting .378 through the first month of the season.
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Then came some struggles. From late February to early April, he hit just .196. He needed to adjust.
“I went through a time of struggling for a long time,” he said. “I was really down about it. I was like,’ ‘What am I going to do to get out of this?’ I think that was the biggest thing for me — learning how to get over that …
“I had to mature and know this is what I want to do.”
Even if Collier’s Harper scheme failed, he had backup plans. He could have remained at Chipola for another year and entered the 2023 Draft with the rest of his peers. He could’ve transferred to a Division I university and come out in 2024.
But his on-field performance started flipping.
During the season’s last six weeks, he hit .440, flashing the skills that made this route possible. His final totals: a .333 batting average, .419 on-base percentage, eight home runs and 47 RBIs.
Yes, even at 17, he was ready.
The Cincinnati Reds selected him 18th overall.
“It was so surreal,” Collier said. “It just didn’t feel real. I worked so long and hard for this opportunity. Now, it presented itself. I’m here.”
2023 is Cam Collier's first full year of professional baseball
Julio Morillo met Collier right after the draft last summer. Collier made a nine-game cameo for the Reds’ rookie-level Arizona Complex League team Morillo was managing.
Collier hit .370.
“How young he was and the way he treats his at-bats was very impressive for me,” Morillo said. “Playing at that level of professional baseball already and not being overmatched by that league right out of college but still 18 years old. It surprised me the way he handled himself at that time.”
Morillo still sees it every day.
To begin this season, Collier was assigned to the Daytona Tortugas, again with Morillo as the manager. Collier, 18, opened the year as the youngest player in the Florida State League. He won’t turn 19 until November.
Like his time at Chipola, Collier has endured some struggles. Entering Wednesday night’s game, he was batting .214 with four homers and 31 runs knocked in.
He feels the expectations. He sees the stories, parallels to Harper (a man he’s never met) and prospect rankings. MLB Pipeline lists him as Cincinnati’s third-best prospect and the 55th-best prospect in the sport.
He attempts to avoid all of that, but it can be a lot for a guy who would’ve just graduated high school.
“Yeah, I’m not even going to lie,” Collier said. “I definitely feel them. I think that’s one thing that really gets in your head. But I feel like everyone comes in with expectations, and I’m trying to not dwell on everybody else’s expectations and just care about what the team needs and winning and just getting better.”
Still, he wouldn’t trade his experiences from the past two years.
“It definitely paid off,” he said. “Definitely. I know I’m a lot better right now than I would’ve been if I would’ve continued to play against high school competition.”
Morillo said: “I think it affects him in a good way. He’s very aware of the things he needs to get better at. He’s competitive. He’s aware of the things he has to do to be able to succeed in this game. But he also has that mentality of ‘Hey, I’m working my tail off. I’m working really hard, and eventually, this thing is going to turn around for me. I’m just going to learn and trust it right now.’”
Collier formed that mentality at Chipola — just grind and keep it simple. He’s trusted himself through this entire process. Why stop now?
He maintains a solid support system, too. His dad and his major-league friends like Marquis Grissom, along with current players like Atlanta Braves outfielder Michael Harris II and Oakland A’s prospect Lawrence Butler. Collier texts them often, looking for advice or little tips and tricks.
“I think it’s just a constant learning process for him,” Morillo said. “When he gets it, he’s going to be unstoppable.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Bryce Harper is the blueprint for Cincinnati Reds prospect Cam Collier
