Stephen Haynes

Poughkeepsie Journal

Nicole Collins admits it. She sometimes allows her mind to wander well into the fantasy realm, imagining herself seated behind home plate of a Major League Baseball game, pointing to the mound and shouting to all within earshot, “That’s my brother!”

That would be V.J. Collins, a LaGrange man who once rode the bench for the Arlington High School baseball team, but whose unusual pitch landed him an improbable contract last summer with the Tampa Bay Rays organization.

Collins has since pitched for the Rays’ Gulf Coast League affiliate and in its instructional league, and this winter he received a minor-league spring training invitation.

READ: A knuckleball, a sister, a Major League shot for LaGrange man

The 24-year-old reported to Port Charlotte, Florida for the Rays’ knuckleball camp two weeks ago, and he will showcase his skills when spring training begins March 6.

After his persistent older sister pleaded with big-league teams to offer him an audition, the Rays accepted and Collins wowed scouts with his dancing knuckleball during a tryout last July at Dutchess Stadium in Fishkill.

Collins’ dream of making the majors still is far from being realized, of course, but that the organization thought enough of him to offer a spring training invitation to Port Charlotte means he has taken a step toward that goal.

“It’s still kind of surreal,” V.J. Collins said. “But what’s going on is becoming a little more real to me now, and I understand I have a rare opportunity. I want to grab it.”

In the last week, he has rubbed shoulders with a few big leaguers and chatted briefly in the weight room with Rays all-star pitcher Chris Archer. Collins also has forged a relationship with San Francisco Giants star Joe Panik, a John Jay High School grad whom he met at a local gym this winter.

Collins insisted he doesn’t get star-struck but admitted, “for someone at his level to allow me to pick his brain, it’s unbelievable. That’s huge for me.”

“Every time we have a conversation, it’s difficult for him to contain his excitement,” Nicole Collins said. “He’s been fortunate to be in a position where he’s in the presence of elite talent and that has to be beneficial.”

Collins struggled in the Gulf Coast League last summer, pitching to a 9.24 ERA in 12 2/3 innings of relief. It was during the instructional league last fall when he made progress and flashed some of his potential.

There, he began working closely with Rays knuckleball maven Charlie Haeger, who tinkered with his pitching mechanics. The results soon followed. Collins allowed two runs in nine innings, including seven consecutive scoreless frames, in the instructional league.

More importantly, he said, the knuckleball got “10 times better.” A little hyperbole, perhaps. But understandable.

Coaches altered Collins’ delivery to get his leg kick and arm action more in sync. With the new setup, Collins said, his arm extends further as he releases the ball, which has added velocity and better control of the specialty pitch.

Before, the knuckleball sat between 65-68 mph. It now sails in between 70-74 mph and its movement has improved. The ball still wobbles side to side before dipping downward, but its motion now is even more wonky.

Collins also throws a fastball, but it was that odd-ball pitch that first intrigued the organization. Jeff McLerran, the Rays’ assistant director of minor league operations, told the Journal last July that Collins’ knuckleball had potential.

“We rely pretty heavily on our coaching staff, and they were the ones making the call on V.J.,” McLerran said. “They saw enough promise in what he did to bring him on board.”

After pitching in the instructional league, Collins returned home to LaGrange and his workout routine intensified. He trained six days a week, for up to six hours at a time. He lost about 10 pounds but added muscle.

“I wasn’t blessed with crazy talent and I’m not the biggest guy,” said V.J. Collins, who stands 5-foot-10, 170 pounds. “But I’ve been given this opportunity and I can’t let a day go by without trying to capitalize.”

It was during those workout sessions when he ran into Panik, with whom he speaks to for a few minutes each time. Collins said Panik has told him what to expect in the minor leagues and how to handle himself.

If all goes well for him this spring, he will likely be assigned to a Class A minor-league team, where he then will attempt to work his way up. Collins said he hopes to be sent to the Hot Rods in Bowling Green, Kentucky. But, Nicole Collins said, for selfish reasons she would love for him to assigned to the Hudson Valley Renegades. That’s the short-season Class A affiliate whose home is Dutchess Stadium... about 20 minutes from where they grew up.

“We’ve got friends in Westchester, Dutchess and Putnam (counties) rooting for him,” Nicole Collins said. “He’d be the hometown guy, a local hero.”

In some ways, he already is.

Collins was a backup infielder on the Arlington varsity baseball team as a senior in 2010, then had a nondescript collegiate career at Dutchess Community College and Manhattanville College.

After a brief stint in 2015 with an independent league team in California, Collins took a job as a pitching coach at Manhattanville. But his sister, a lawyer, refused to let his dream wither. She reached out to a number of baseball organizations, attempting to pitch to them her brother’s special pitch. Most of those calls and emails weren’t replied to, but the Rays at the time were seeking to add knuckleballers, and McLerren was interested.

“A lot of the guys who were signed around the same time as my brother have been released,” Nicole Collins said. “What are the chances that he would wind up getting the one spot in the one organization that was looking for someone with that one pitch? So I do let my mind wander.”

After all, their reality to this point already has been somewhat of a fantasy.

Stephen Haynes: shaynes@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4826, Twitter: @StephenHaynes4