Dunedin Blue Jays: Adrian Pinto heating up

PEAKS AND VALLEYS, WIN STREAKS AND LOSING STREAKS, HOT AND COLD ARE WHAT MAKE FOLLOWING THE TORONTO BLUE JAYS FUN.

When the Toronto Blue Jays dealt Randal Grichuk to the Colorado Rockies for Raimel Tapia, the Blue Jays also acquired Adrian Pinto. Grichuk for Tapia was good baseball trade. Both teams got what they were looking for, Colorado got a bat with 30+HR power and the Blue Jays got a LHB with speed. The Rockies also got the Blue Jays to pick up a chuck of Randal’s contract. Enough about that.

The 5-foot-6 infielder was ranked as the Rockies 19th best prospect according to Baseball America. Baseball America released their updated in-season list with the native of Caucagua, Venezuela landing at 13th.

According to the BA, Adrian Pinto has a small but strong, compact build…..outstanding hand-eye coordination and a short, quick stroke, rarely swinging and missing. BA praised his pitch recognization and plate discipline. He is described as ‘more of an on-base threat than a power threat, but has some sneaky pop…’. He is said to be a plus-plus runner with a plus arm.

Adrian Pinto didn’t make his Blue Jays professional debut until April 26th, so we will be dealing with what many would call a small sample size. In his first game, Adrian went 2-for-5, both singles, a run scored, and a strikeout. He didn’t draw his first walk until his third game but would draw a walk in three straight games without striking out.

Over his first 7 games, Pinto failed to impress as a base stealer. He went 0-for-4 in stolen base attempts until final swiping his base. Unfortunately, he was caught stealing later in the game making him 1-for-6 in stolen base attempts. Not great.

He didn’t pick up his first extra-base hit until game 7, a triple. He would triple in game 8 as well. After 12 games, his first 12 games with the Blue Jays and Stateside, Adrian Pinto was batting just .186 with a stolen base, two triples, 7 runs scored, and no RBI.

On May 11th, the 19-yr-old started to find his groove. He went 2-for-5 with a run scored and stole two bases. He collected hits in 4 straight games with stolen bases in each of those games.

Over the past 15 days, Pinto has slashed .324/.419/.486. He’s gone a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts while collecting 3 doubles. During this time, Adrian Pinto has 5 walks to 8 strikeouts. He’s scored 11 runs with 2 runs batted in. Yesterday, May 25th, he hit his first home run as a member of the Dunedin Blue Jays.

In 24 games, Pinto owns a .259BA with a .118ISO and .323BABIP. His .355wOBA and 120wRC+ indicated there are better days ahead. His 10 stolen bases are 2nd highest on the team but his 2 triples lead the club. He is walking at 9.0BB% clip and striking out at a 19.0K% clip. According to FanGraphs, Pinto is a little too pull-happy, pulling 49.3% of the time. This is on par with his 2021 mark of 49.0Pull%.

In the Field, the Blue Jays have played him at SS (12GP), 2nd (9GP), and CF (1GP).

I am sure this won’t be the last piece I write about Adrian Pinto’s development in 2022. The D-Jays leadoff man appears to have some very loud tools. So far, an excellent addition to our amazing farm system.