By Kimberly Dunbar

Normal isn’t an adjective Tim Collins would use to describe himself. However, after talking with him, you’d never guess he’s a Major League Baseball pitcher. Maybe it’s because he’s 5′ 7″ (on a good day) and you can look him in the eye. Or maybe it’s his mullet-hawk (he cuts his hair himself). Or perhaps it’s his humility when he talks about his journey and the initials of five friends and relatives who have passed away etched under the brim of his blue Kansas City Royals hat. “It reminds me how short life is,” he explains. “If I don’t take full advantage, then what am I doing here?”

Collins, a 21-year-old Worcester native, is also alluding to his career. Not long after graduating from Worcester Technical High School ~ and throwing a no-hitter to win the 2007 Central Massachusetts Division II Championship ~ Collins was ready to head to community college and make use of his carpentry trade.

“I was just going to college to play baseball,” he says. “I played because I loved it. I never thought I’d take it this far.” That changed in what Collins calls a “…right place, right time thing with a lot of luck involved.”

The right place: fellow Worcesterite J.P. Ricciardi, then GM of the Toronto Blue Jays, was in town scouting Collins’s American Legion teammate. The luck: Collins pitched instead, striking out 12 in four innings. Three days later, he was a Blue Jay.

“I’m not saying it was favoritism,” Collins says of the Worcester connection. “[J.P.] was just giving me a shot and that’s all I wanted. He gave me a great opportunity and I wasn’t going to waste it.”

Collins spent the next three years pitching his way through the minors, propelled by his power and deceptive delivery. He also packed on 41 pounds of muscle. In July 2010, he was traded from Toronto to Atlanta, and then to Kansas City.

“When I came to the Royals I realized how close I was to the majors,” he recalls. Once again, Collins took advantage and made the team’s opening day roster.

What the southpaw Collins lacks in height he makes up for in his 97-mph fastball. His high leg kick (which Collins admits has “gotten a little out of control”), height and velocity draw comparisons to the great Billy Wagner. But Collins, while flattered, doesn’t necessarily agree.

“It’s tough to compare me to him when he’s had so much success and I’ve been here for three months,” he says.

In that short time, Collins has earned a regular role in the Royals bullpen, as well as in clubhouse entertainment- for both his mullet-hawk and his height. “I’m never going to live it down so I go along with it,” he says, adding that he uses a few short jokes of his own, like asking teammates to reach things for him. “As long as they’re making jokes about my height it means they know I’m still here.”

Collins has trouble thinking of a third adjective to describe himself. “I hate talking about myself,” he says.

Tim Collins may be short on words and perhaps inches, but never in heart or talent.

Photo credit: Chris Vleisides/Kansas City Royals