Coming into spring training, the San Diego Padres have to be hoping to find some hidden gems for their pitching staff.
San Diego is strong at the top of the rotation and back end of the bullpen, but the gaps have to be filled in somehow. Instead of spending big in free agency, San Diego has largely stuck to small signings here and there, with the notable exception of bringing back excellent starter Michael King.
On Tuesday, the Padres snuck in another minor-league signing before the start of the spring, and it happened to be a pitcher who was once the fourth-overall pick in his draft class.
According to the official transactions log, the Padres signed 28-year-old right-hander Riley Pint on Tuesday. Pint had previously elected free agency in November after spending the season in the Cleveland Guardians organization.
In 2016, the Colorado Rockies selected Pint fourth overall out of high school in Kansas. The 6-foot-5, 225-pounder peaked at No. 3 on the Rockies’ top prospects list in 2017 and 2018, before his results started trending in the wrong direction.
Despite a career minor-league ERA above 5.00, Pint made his major league debut for the Rockies in 2023, but pitched in just one big league game that year and four the following year. The Rockies outrighted him off the 40-man roster in August 2024, and he signed with the Guardians as a minor league free agent that winter.
There’s something of a blanket pardon that exists in baseball for pitchers who escape the Rockies organization, even in cases like Pint’s. Yes, the righty barely ever pitched at Coors Field, but the organization has seemingly had no philosophy when it comes to developing pitching over the last few years, and most of their farm teams play at brutal hitter’s parks as well.
Can the Padres, who play in a notorious pitcher’s park, eventually unlock something with Pint? It’s possible, but he’ll have a lot to prove from day one of spring training.
More MLB: Cubs Acquire 9-Year Veteran, Longtime Phillies Starter