SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Royals outfielder Isaac Collins is dealing with mild back/left side tightness and won’t be appearing in Cactus League games for the next few days, the Royals said on Friday.
Collins last played on Tuesday against the Mariners, when he went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. When he woke up the next morning, his back/side area was stiff, and when he took some early swings in the cage Wednesday, he alerted the coaching and training staff that something wasn’t feeling right.
The concern from the team is “minor,” manager Matt Quatraro said, but with Opening Day now less than two weeks away and Collins already having some injury history with his knees this spring, it’s certainly something to monitor moving forward. The Royals are targeting next Tuesday -- following Monday’s team off-day -- as a day to get Collins back in game action, but that remains fluid based on how he feels.
“We really want to emphasize: We think it’s very minor,” Quatraro said. “... Some of it’s [his] back. Some of it’s side, might be oblique. Very minor. We’re learning him, he’s learning us, and at this point in the spring, we’re going to take it easy.”
Collins said he didn’t want to push anything too much at this point in the spring and potentially make something worse. If this was the regular season, he’d be doing his “best to make sure I’m on the field, for sure,” he said.
“We’re just being smart about it,” Collins said. “The timing of the year, the last thing I want to do is not say anything, act like everything’s fine, play through it and then the swing starts to change. Or it makes it worse. We’ve got 162 games. I need to be as healthy as possible for those.
“It’s not time to play through stuff. I’m trying to be ready for Opening Day.”
The Royals acquired Collins and reliever Nick Mears in a trade with the Brewers, with the idea that Collins -- who is coming off a fourth place finish in National League Rookie of the Year voting -- would inject some on-base into the Royals' lineup and be their everyday left fielder.
That’s still the expectation, and the Royals have emphasized their confidence and belief in Collins as an everyday player for them in 2026. It’s been a little bit of a slow start in the spring, though. The Royals intentionally delayed Collins’ initial build-up to Cactus League games early in the spring because he had platelet-rich plasma injections in both of his knees this offseason to address patella tendinitis, so they were being cautious to begin. In six spring games since his debut, Collins has a .111/.200/.167 slash line with two walks and nine strikeouts in 20 plate appearances across six games.
He was encouraged with his at-bats the last couple of games he’s been in, though, which makes the injury setback harder to swallow, no matter how minor it may be.
“Little bit of a slow start, but I felt like the last few games I was in, I started to see the ball better and get back to what I need to do and what my goals are,” Collins said. “I think I got a little too result-oriented. Tried to force things that weren’t there. Kind of got back to seeing the ball, hunting my pitch and executing. It’s hard not to put too much emphasis on the results right now. It’s easy to get caught up in it. But this is the time to figure things out, get back to what works and find that again.
“I feel like I made some good progress the last few at-bats, so it’s kind of frustrating to have to take a little step back. But I think I was able to get that confidence back of, ‘OK, this is what I need to strive for each game.’”
India exits with groin tightness
Second baseman Jonathan India exited Friday night’s 11-5 loss to the D-backs in the second inning with right groin tightness, but Quatraro said it was more of a precaution. India felt it tighten early on in the game, and the club didn’t want to push him through anything. He’ll be assessed further on Saturday.
“He said it just felt tight,” Quatraro said. “We didn’t want to take any chances with it.”
Wacha returns from World Baseball Classic
Right-hander Michael Wacha made his first Cactus League start on Friday following his stint with Team USA in the WBC and allowed four earned runs in 3 1/3 innings, with three walks and six strikeouts. The swing and miss was definitely there for him, with a young D-backs lineup whiffing on 38% of the swings against Wacha. But the velocity was down a bit across the board, and the command was shaky at times.
“I would have liked to see a little bit more there,” Wacha said of the velocity. “It’s something I’ll keep my eye on, weight-room type stuff and make some adjustments there. But I felt good, which is most important.”