Diamondbacks OF prospect Kristian Robinson receives work visa

Diamondbacks outfield prospect Kristian Robinson was granted a work visa over the weekend, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. 

The development sets the stage for him to play in minor league games for the first time in nearly four years, though Piecoro writes that he’ll first need to recover from a minor hamstring injury.

Robinson, a native of the Bahamas, was a high-profile amateur signee over the 2017-18 international signing period. He appeared among Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects entering both the 2020 and ’21 seasons after impressing scouts with his power and athleticism in the low minors. At one point, Robinson looked like a potential organizational building block.

However, he’s been in limbo for the past few years for legal reasons. Robinson pled guilty to what was initially a felony assault charge stemming from an April 2020 incident with a law enforcement officer. (Zach Buchanan of the Athletic wrote in 2021 that Robinson said he’d been amidst a mental health crisis at the time.) 

As part of the plea agreement, Robinson’s charge was to be reduced to a misdemeanor if he successfully completed 18 months of probation without incident. In the interim, having a felony on his record prevented him from renewing a work visa that would allow him to continue to participate in minor league games. Robinson had been permitted to partake in extended spring training workouts but could not play in official games.

Robinson fulfilled his probation requirements this spring. With the charge reduced to a misdemeanor, he was able to reapply for and receive the work visa that permits him to get back to game action. 

While the layoff raises questions about Robinson’s ability to readjust to consistently facing professional pitching, he’s still just 22 years old and could reestablish himself as a legitimate prospect. Piecoro writes that he’s likely to be assigned to Low-A Visalia once he’s recovered from the hamstring issue.

“I think the talent is still there,” D-backs farm director Josh Barfield told Piecoro. “The same explosive tools he had when he was one of our top prospects three of four years ago, that’s all still there. He’s still young. That’s the amazing part; he’s gone through all this and he’s still young. … I wouldn’t be shocked if he got off to a slower start as he gets his legs underneath him, but I think sometime by midyear we should start to see the guy that we saw before that we were so excited about.”

Over the 2021-22 offseason, the Diamondbacks added Robinson to their 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. They immediately placed him on the restricted list (thus reallocating the spot) because his work situation had been frozen. 

Now that Robinson is cleared to return to game action, the D-backs will soon have to decide whether to count him as part of the roster or to make him available to other clubs via waivers. Piecoro writes they’ll have 30 days before they formally have to reinstate him onto the 40-man.