The Padres are rolling the dice on a familiar name with a high ceiling and a winding road back to relevance. Riley Pint - once a top-five draft pick with a fastball that lit up radar guns and drew breathless scouting reports - is getting another shot, this time in San Diego, on a minor-league deal with a spring training invite.
And honestly, this is exactly the kind of move the Padres should be making right now. It’s low-risk, potentially high-reward, and taps into an organizational strength: developing unpredictable arms into reliable bullpen weapons.
Let’s rewind for a second. Pint was the fourth overall pick in the 2016 draft by the Rockies, a right-hander with triple-digit heat and raw stuff that made scouts drool.
But like so many hard-throwing prospects, control - or the lack of it - became the issue. He stepped away from the game entirely in 2021, a rare move for someone with his pedigree, before returning in 2022.
Just the comeback itself was a story. Now, the question is whether there's a second act worth watching.
The Padres clearly think there might be. Pint recently showed out at a Driveline showcase, flashing a more refined version of his once-chaotic arsenal.
He sat 95-96 mph with a sinker, touched 97.4 on the heater, and mixed in both a sweeping breaking ball and a slider with legitimate feel. That’s not the old “throw it hard and hope” Pint.
This is a pitcher who’s trying to build a more sustainable, bullpen-ready profile - one that fits the mold of a modern power reliever.
Now, let’s not sugarcoat what we’ve seen at the big-league level so far. Pint’s brief stint with Colorado was rough: five outings, more walks than innings pitched, and a stat line you don’t want to look at too long.
But it was just 3 2/3 innings - hardly enough to write the final chapter. Small samples have burned plenty of pitchers, and in Pint’s case, the issue was never whether the stuff was electric.
It’s always been about command - can he get the ball over the plate with any consistency?
That’s the bet the Padres are making here. They’ve built a reputation for taking unconventional arms and turning them into usable bullpen pieces. This is a development group that thrives on projects like Pint - pitchers with big-time tools and just enough chaos to make them interesting.
The assignment for Pint is straightforward but not easy: throw strikes early, land the breaking ball, and show you can do it again tomorrow. If he can do that - if the Padres can tighten up the delivery and help him repeat his mechanics - there’s real potential here.
He’s not being asked to anchor the rotation or close games. He just needs to show he can be a reliable piece in the middle innings.
In a bullpen that could use some upside depth, this is a smart swing. Pint still has the kind of arm that makes you look twice. If the Padres can help him harness it, they might have something special on their hands - a once-hyped flamethrower turned into a legitimate weapon.