Draft Profile: Riley Pint

Riley Pint is a right handed pitching prospect out of the Kansas City area. Standing between 6’4” and 6’5” Pint is the ideal pitching frame. This is because while he is tall he only weighs 195 pounds currently. Most teams believe they can add 10 to 20 pounds of muscle on high school frames while maintaining their current velocities.

Current Repertoire:

• Fastball:
  Currently sits between 93-95 topping out at 98 mph that has a little late movement. Scouts project that he will keep or add some velocity with professional coaching and focusing on baseball (currently Riley plays basketball also)
• Slider:
  Riley has a very good slider that he throws with power in the 81-83 mph range. Scouts believe it will eventually play plus or higher.
• Change-up:
  As most high school pitchers Pint doesn’t throw a change up very much. But scouts have noticed that the ones they have seen look good.

Summary: Pint is a good pitching prospect and is one of the highest pitching prospects right now. MLB.com has him as the 4th best player in the draft just like Baseball America. Keith Law ranked his top 30 draft prospects last fall and had Pint at number 15. The reason for the split is Pint has had a hard time repeating his delivery. In addition he also has some effort in his delivery too which has become more concerning to teams in recent years.

So do the Yankees have a shot? I believe they might. If Pint is inconsistent with his mechanics and doesn’t come out and dominate this year I could see teams drafting passing. The good thing for me is Pint is only 10 minutes away from my house so I should be able to see him in person. So I hope to provide an update on if the Yankees have a shot at this top talent.

UPDATE 3/14/16: I wrote this article last week but on a recent draft podcast I listened to some new information was relayed about Pint.  In a recent indoor showcase Pint was 97-102 with a grade 7 slider and a 7 change-up.  That would be the top pick in this draft easily and would be the first right handed starter to go 1st overall.  The spring will be very interesting for Pint’s draft sock.