Blue Jays Nation’s Pre-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 29: Adrian Pinto

Photo credit:Baseball America

5 months ago

Today’s prospect is the first we’ll look at that was acquired through a trade!

This is Blue Jays Nation’s annual pre-season list, in which I’ll take a look at the top 50 prospects in the organization. We’ll look at the player’s stats, my observations, and other publications’ scouting reports if available.

Let’s take a look at Adrian Pinto

Getting to know Adrian Pinto…

Position: Second base/Shortstop/Centre field

Bats: Right

Born: September 22, 2002

Acquired: Trade with Colorado Rockies

2023 Team: Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays

Previous Ranking: 28

The 5’6”, 156 lbs middle infielder was signed by the Colorado Rockies during the 2019 international free agency class and made his professional debut in 2021. Pinto slashed .360/.486/.543 with three homers in 224 plate appearances, along with a 17 BB% and an 8 K for a 184 wRC+, while also stealing 41 bases in 49 attempts. As you could imagine, Pinto won the Dominican Summer League MVP in 2021.

On March. 24, 2022, the Blue Jays shipped long-time Blue Jay Randal Grichuk (along with some money) to the Colorado Rockies for Raimel Tapia and Pinto. That ended up being a good trade, all things considered.

Pinto sadly hasn’t captured his 2021 form in the Blue Jays organization, mainly due to injury. In 2022, he slashed .242/.375/.363 with two homers in 194 plate appearances, along with a 12.4 BB% and a 16.5 K% for a 119 wRC+. On top of that, he stole 18 bases in 25 attempts. Pinto sadly missed the second half of the season due to injury.

The 21-year-old repeated the level in 2023, slashing .260/.413/.300 with two doubles in 129 plate appearances, along with a 17.8 BB% and a 19.4 K% for a 114 wRC+. Pinto added 12 stolen bases in 16 attempts, but once again missed significant time during the season, playing just seven games in June and July, and none after July 14. This season, it was due to leg injuries.

Still, Pinto remains an incredibly intriguing prospect. Due to his height, Pinto will never going to be a power hitter, but he did have relatively impressive exit velocities, posting an average exit velocity of 83.3 mph and a max exit velocity of 106.4 mph.

Pinto ranks on two top prospect lists. Scott Mitchell ranks Pinto as his 33rd-best prospect, noting that injuries have hampered his career, but he could be a useful player if he can play centre field. Fangraphs ranks him as their 31st-best prospect, with his best future grades being in his hit tool (35 present value, 60 future) and 55 run with an emphasis on his bat-to-ball skills.

It’s entirely possible that Pinto will start the 2024 season in Single-A Dunedin for the third straight season. If he can remain healthy (which he needs to at this point), Pinto may find his way to High-A Vancouver as a 21-year-old, which isn’t too bad all things considered.