BSN Exclusive: Riley Pint is on a path to the front of the rotation

The most famous quote in comic book history tells us that “with great power comes great responsibility” but what most of the stories also teach is that it takes a team of people working together in order to properly harness that power and to share that responsibility.

The same is true for developing ballplayers with this kind of absurd raw potential.

The conversation this offseason and spring training for the Colorado Rockies has centered largely around a group of young players on the bubble of MLB and maybe even stardom. Names like Ryan McMahon, David Dahl, and Raimel Tapia have joined the parade or pitching prospects that have turned the club’s fortunes in the last few years.

After them comes Brendan Rodgers, who has been about as good in his first taste of big league competition (at 21-years-old) as anyone could have hoped for. These are the players that Colorado will tie their fate to in the coming seasons.

But you can’t interview the man in charge of development and not ask about a kid who throws a 102 mph fastball.

Riley Pint, the Rockies 2016 first-round draft pick, is still incredibly raw. His surface numbers haven’t been great in two professional seasons, hovering at about a 5.40 ERA and a 5.65 BB/9 rate. But he did earn a promotion based on his ability to learn and grow, which Director of Player Development Zach Wilson is far more important.

“I feel great about Riley,” he says. “Better than I did the year before. You want to keep feeling better each year and we certainly do right now.”

“He’s the definition of a prospect, right? It’s a huge arm,” says Wilson. “He’s a kid that looks the part. He’s got three other major league plus pitches. They’re not major league ready in terms of consistency, but they have major league action to them. So, full package definition of a prospect.”

And now, like Barry Allen or Peter Parker, Riley Pint must go about trying to harness his power by spending a whole lot of time listening to those around him, including Wilson and a vast team of coaches and teammates.

“Guys like this take time,” Wilson reminds us. “I think what happens is a young kid was challenged his first full season, and maybe he didn’t meet some people’s expectations, but he met mine. And that is small steps every single day. And when you do that over the course of five years, it adds up to hopefully a front-of-the-rotation starter at the big-league level.”

Pint has always been tabbed as the kind of player who could anchor a rotation one day. His fastball still touches triple digits with some regularity and the development of his other pitches has been beyond exciting for the organization. The young fireballer’s numbers would likely look much better if he were allowed to just use his best stuff to get hitters out, but that would do little for preparing him for MLB.

Much like Jon Gray and Kyle Freeland before him, the Rockies are spending his time in the minors focusing on improving the weakest elements of his game. But unlike those two, Pint didn’t spend any time in college, so his first three years as a pro can almost be seen as a bonus.

When viewed through this lens, Pint is already ahead of the pace of Gray and Freeland by reaching Low-A ball as they were in their sophomore years at school.

If he continues to progress at this pace, he should be looking at a 2020 MLB debut. His arrival will coincide with a number of huge decisions the club has to make, including the possibility that it’s the first year of Nolan Arenado’s shiny new contract.

And while most of the rest of the world is talking about all the players Colorado could lose over the next two years—from DJ LeMahieu and Charlie Blackmon to pretty much every member of the bullpen—Zach Wilson and his team are busy focusing on the players they are going to gain.

“Riley’s gonna continue to work,” Wilson says. “He’s had a great spring training thus far, beginning real games today, so we will continue that process with him.”

BSN Denver is on site in Scottsdale Arizona and will have a full report on what we’ve seen from Pint soon.