Padres bring in a forgotten fireballer for one last shot at a comeback

This may be the kind of move the Padres should be making right now: low-cost, no-strings pitching depth with actual upside.

Riley Pint’s name still hits a certain nerve if you remember the hype. Fourth overall pick by the Colorado Rockies in 2016. Triple-digit fastball. The sort of arm scouts used to talk about like it came with its own warning label. Then he was derailed by the same predictable issue that comes with a lot of flamethrowers: control. Pint retired in 2021 before returning in 2022, and the comeback itself mattered as much as the stat line. 

Padres bring in Riley Pint for a volatile comeback that could impact the pen

Now he’s here on a minor-league deal with a spring training invite, which basically translates to: show us something we can build on, fast. 

And there’s at least a reason this is happening. Pint performed well at a recent Driveline showcase, sitting 95–96 mph on his sinker, touching 97.4 on his fastball, and flashing feel for a sweepy breaking ball and a slider. That’s not the old “102 and vibes” version of Pint — it’s a more realistic power-reliever profile. 

However, his major-league sample with the Colorado Rockies was a complete mess — five appearances, more walks than innings, and a stat line that begs for you to not zoom in. But it was also only 3 2/3 innings. Tiny samples ruin pitchers all the time, and Pint’s story has never been about whether the ball comes out hot. It’s always been about whether the next pitch is anywhere near the catcher’s glove.

This is a Padres bet on infrastructure. If anyone is going to simplify a delivery and sharpen two pitches, it’s a development group that’s made a living collecting weird arms and trying to weaponize them.

The ask is simple: throw strikes early, land the breaking stuff, and prove you can repeat it tomorrow. If he does, the Padres might have stumbled into a nasty middle-relief option.