Lynchburg reunion: Hillcats Collins, Cullen played together in Canada

Joel Collins and Chris Cullen had spent four years playing for Team Ontario, a youth travel club in their home Canadian province, and when the two friends were 17, they figured their days of playing together were over. Cullen and Collins graduated high school and fled south to play college ball in the States — Cullen at Coastal Carolina and Collins at South Alabama.

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The two remained close friends and kept in touch regularly, speaking by phone every two weeks or so. Eventually, Cullen moved closer to his Windsor home, transferring to Michigan State. Collins, a lifelong Blue Jays fan, fulfilled a dream when Toronto selected him in the 10th round of the 2007 MLB first-year player draft. Hometown boy playing for the hometown organization. It didn’t get much better than that.

Cullen was never drafted, and instead plied his trade for the Edmonton Cracker-Cats of the independent Golden League. Cullen caught a break when Mike Steele, his pitching coach at Michigan State, got a job with the Pirates, replacing former Hillcats pitching coach Bob Milacki midway through last season. When Edmonton’s season ended, Steele made Pirates scouts aware of Cullen, and Cullen eventually signed as a free agent.

But as of mid-March, the chances of the two playing together seemed slim. They were in different organizations, at least they were until the Blue Jays released about 25 players, including Collins.

Three days later, Collins worked out with Pittsburgh and signed a minor-league contract. The Pirates assigned Collins to Lynchburg and placed Cullen in West Virginia with the Low-A Power. But less than a week into the season, Hillcats pitcher Bryan Morris went on the disabled list, Chi-Hung Cheng moved into the starting rotation, and Lynchburg needed a reliever. They called on Cullen, and Collins happened to be catching when Cullen made his first career affiliated appearance.

“It’s crazy, not just that we’re here, but the things that took place to get to this point,” Collins said.

Playing behind Carolina League All-Star Kris Watts, Collins only catches once most weeks. On a good week, he’ll get two starts. So to say it was unlikely that Collins would catch his friend’s debut is an understatement.

“It’s really cool when you think of all of the things that had to fall into place,” Collins said.

Cullen, who came to Lynchburg as a lightly regarded reliever, has been outstanding in his first 19 appearances for the Hillcats. He threw three scoreless innings in Tuesday night’s win over Frederick, lowering his season ERA to 2.23. In 32 1/3 innings, he’s walked just four and struck out 24. Cullen has been a big part of the success of the Hillcats bullpen, which collectively was 17-6 with 19 saves and a 3.13 ERA heading into Wednesday’s game with the Keys.

“It’s been good,” Cullen said. “I was with this group in spring training a lot, and I got to know (pitching coach) Wally (Whitehurst) a little bit. I’m real comfortable with these guys. A great group of guys. It’s pretty easy to come up here and fit in with them.”

For Collins, finding a rhythm has been a struggle. He’s only appeared in 13 games and has just five hits in 36 at-bats, though he’s been hit by pitches seven times, tied with Watts for the team lead. This is not a new trend. He set South Alabama’s single-season (22) and career record (47) for being hit by pitches, and led short-season Low-A Auburn with 15 HBPs last year.

“The only records I hold,” Collins said with a laugh. “I don’t really have an explanation for it. I guess I dive into the plate a little bit when I hit. I don’t really move. It was ingrained in us in college to not get out of the way.”

Cullen and Collins form half of the Hillcats’ Canadian contingent in the clubhouse. Reliever Dustin Molleken hails from Regina, Saskatchewan, and injured pitcher Tom Boleska is from Burlington, Ontario, and he too played with Cullen and Collins for Team Ontario.

Growing up, Collins split time between hockey and baseball before realizing he had a better chance of earning a college scholarship playing baseball. Winthrop and South Alabama offered him, and he left Canada for Mobile, ready to leave his days of playing cold-weather baseball behind.

Despite hockey’s status as Canada’s most revered sport, Cullen never did hit the ice, opting to play basketball and baseball as a youth instead.

“No hockey for me. Collins played a little bit. Don’t let him tell you he was any good though,” Cullen joked.

By choosing baseball, the pair started on a path together at age 13. For a time, those paths were divergent. They’ll probably split up again at some point.

But for now, the two childhood friends are enjoying pursuing their major-league dreams together in Lynchburg.