Author Topic: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C  (Read 1462 times)

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Offline imref

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Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Topic Start: August 28, 2019, 09:32:04 AM »
Via mlb.com:

Israel Pineda | Rank: 10 (Preseason: 8)
Team: Hagerstown Suns (A)   ETA: 2022
Position: C   Age: 19 DOB: 04/03/2000
Bats: R Throws: R   Height: 5' 11" Weight: 190 lb.
Signed: July 2, 2016 - WSH (international free agent)
Scouting grades: Hit: 50 | Power: 45 | Run: 35 | Arm: 55 | Field: 50 | Overall: 45

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The Nationals loaded up on talent during the 2016-17 international period, focusing on advanced hitters who also showed the potential to stick at an up-the-middle position. Among that group was Pineda, a Venezuelan catcher whom Washington signed for $450,000 on July 2. He was advanced enough to make the jump stateside to the Gulf Coast League for his pro debut the next year and garnered mid-season New York-Penn League All-Star honors in 2018 before undergoing season-ending surgery for a broken left hamate bone in late August.

Pineda controls the barrel well and keeps it in the zone for a long time, using his strong hands and wrists to generate hard contact and drive the ball across the whole field. His advanced feel for hitting at a young age leads scouts to believe that the right-handed hitter will eventually hit for some power to go along with a solid batting average.

Pineda has a strong arm behind the plate, and club officials have been pleased with his continued development as a receiver. Altogether, it's the profile of a potential everyday catcher capable of impacting the game on both sides of the ball.

2080baseball.com:

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Signed for $450K from Venezuela in 2016, the Nationals felt confident enough in Pineda’s polish to send him stateside for his 2017 pro debut. He held his own in the GCL and kept the momentum going last year, earning New York-Penn League all-star honors and slashing .273/.341/.388 as an 18-year-old.

He’s built with a durable, mature frame that can withstand the rigors of catching. Pineda is a fairly advanced receiver with an above-average arm, projecting to stay at the position long-term. His swing is loose with quick hands, though no power hasn’t shown up in games yet. A hamate injury ended Pineda’s 2018 season prematurely, something that won’t make it any easier to tap into more juice in the near-term. Even so, Pineda’s feel for the barrel and makeup draw rave reviews, allowing projection to his offensive game across the board.

Pineda enters 2019 as the top catching prospect in Washington’s system. There’s risk inherent with young catchers–especially ones who have yet to reach full-season ball–but he’ll be just 19-years-old for most of the upcoming season and has the tools to develop into a future regular.

.217 / .282 / .309 at Hagerstown (low-A) in 2019. 

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #1: November 22, 2020, 05:53:38 PM »
While he is exposed to the 2020 Rule 5 draft, it sounds like the Nats like him but did not want to start burning options.  A bit of a gamble. 

From a round up of nats prospects (Jesse D in the WaPo on 11/19/20):

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Pineda is a 20-year-old catcher from Venezuela. Washington has keyed on him for a few years now, ever since he got regular starts with the Class A Auburn Doubledays in 2018 and caught the front office’s attention. But after starting pitchers, catcher is the position Washington takes the most time with. If that trend holds, Pineda is a few prospect cycles from being considered for the major league roster. It can still be significant that he is laying a strong foundation.

“He has a knack for the barrel on the ball and uses the whole field and is starting to mature defensively,” Scialabba said of Pineda. “And he’s really just learning the position still, and all phases, but we’re high on him.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/11/19/nationals-position-player-prospects/

Offline Section214

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #2: July 14, 2021, 01:44:16 PM »
Struggling a bit at the plate, but still showing nice power in Wilmington (A+) -- .174/.228/.353, 10 HR + 6 2B in 215 PA with 58 SO and 12 BB

Still only 21 and moving up the system steadily.

Offline imref

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #3: July 29, 2021, 09:41:49 AM »
hitting just .185 but did hit his 12th homer yesterday.

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #4: July 29, 2021, 09:48:11 AM »
hitting just .185 but did hit his 12th homer yesterday.
sounds like Avila / Derrek Norris 2.0 if he can take a walk.

Offline imref

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #5: May 09, 2022, 12:41:39 PM »
hitting at Wilmington:

.275 / .322 / .747 2HRs, 80ABs

In 6 games so far in May: .423   .423   .654   , HR, 3 doubles, (11-26)

Offline Section214

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #6: July 08, 2022, 11:01:34 AM »
Big day at the plate yesterday, 3-3 with 2 HR, numbers 5 and 6 on the year.

.273/.328/.440 with 6 HR 14 2B 37 RBI 17 BB with 64 SO

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #7: July 08, 2022, 11:56:53 AM »
so, the former young stud is age 22 at high A, where he's showing signs of being able to hit at that level.  He's still 0.6 years younger than league average.  League average offensive line is .245 / .334 / .393, so he's hitting better than league average, especially for power. (age and league average per B-R). Throwing out 37% of runners.  Striking out 27% of time. (per FG) For comparison, Keibert is < 2 years older and hitting just a bit worse 3 levels higher.

It really seems like the Nats stack their primary catchers in the minors.  Adams / Barrera at AAA, Millas at AA, and Pineda stuck behind at A+.  Probably gives them more experience than, say, pushing Pineda to AA and splitting time more evenly with Millas.

From the FG system profile, where he's given a 40 and ranked #22 in the system:
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A physical young catcher with some pull power, Pineda was pushed through the minors very quickly early on, but things have slowed down due to the lost pandemic year and his diminished offensive performance. He went straight to the GCL at age 17, then to a Penn League packed with college draftees at age 18, then to full-season ball in 2019. His offensive production took a dip that year at least in part because he was playing through a broken finger, though Pineda hasn’t posted an above-average statline since. Washington invited him to the alternate site very late in the summer of 2020 and he finished up at instructs, then got some big league spring training reps the following season and finished the year as one of the younger Fall League participants. Now the Nationals have slowed things down a bit, as Pineda began 2022 where he spent most of last year: at High-A (Wilmington is Washington’s new affiliate), where he still flashes big pull power but has stagnated in other areas. Scouts don’t think Pineda is a lock to catch because he doesn’t have a great arm, but they love his workmanship and makeup, and think he’ll find a way to be a viable defender through his competence in the other facets of catching via sheer effort. He projects as a low-OBP hitter with above-average raw power, likely a bat-first backup so long as he remedies his rough-around-the-edges defense.

FWIW, FG gives Millas also gives Millas a 40 but ranks him #11, just behind Aldo Ramirez.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/washington-nationals-top-29-prospects-2022/

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #8: July 22, 2022, 10:32:53 AM »
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Nationals: Israel Pineda, C (No. 24)
Pineda has been an on-base machine in the past month, posting an OBP of .433 with 12 walks in 90 plate appearances. The 22-year-old has slugged six homers, three doubles and a triple among his 26 hits in 76 at-bats, good for a .342 average and a .645 slugging percentage. Those numbers lead all of Washington’s ranked prospects. The catcher struggled with High-A Wilmington last year, batting just .208 in 77 games, but has turned a corner this year, slashing .264/.325/.443 with more walks (22) through 67 games than he had all of last year (18).
https://www.mlb.com/news/hottest-hitting-prospects-july-2022

Offline Section214

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #9: July 23, 2022, 09:24:08 AM »
Promoted to AA!
1-4 2B in his first game in AA. Very interested to see how he looks against advanced competition.

Offline imref

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #10: July 28, 2022, 10:27:48 AM »
Hit his 2nd HR in 4 games since getting promoted, last night's was a grand slam.

Offline imref

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #11: July 29, 2022, 01:33:24 PM »
2-4, BB, and threw out a stealer last night, 39% throw-out percent so far this year. Obviously a small sample size, but in 5 games since joining Harrisburg he's posted .316   .350   .737

Looks like he's turning into a valuable piece of trade bait.

Offline Section214

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #12: July 31, 2022, 06:08:27 PM »
2-4 with 2 more HR today for Harrisburg. That's 5 HR in 5 days for Pineda. .333/.345/.963 since being called up last week.

Offline welch

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #13: August 01, 2022, 04:12:46 PM »

From the FG system profile, where he's given a 40 and ranked #22 in the system:
FWIW, FG gives Millas also gives Millas a 40 but ranks him #11, just behind Aldo Ramirez.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/washington-nationals-top-29-prospects-2022/

There is no evidence that Aldo Ramirez is alive, so how can he be ranked ahead of any player? Is the ranking done by a person or just by an anonymous algorithm, one that FG forgot to update to disregard dead people?

Offline imref

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #14: August 19, 2022, 09:44:46 PM »
3-3 tonight, average up to .300

Offline Smithian

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #15: August 22, 2022, 10:15:21 AM »
I stopped following him a while back, but if he keeps it up and finishes the season well in Harrisburg, he actually could jump back up our rankings.

Offline Section214

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #16: August 31, 2022, 11:13:54 AM »
26 games in AA - .280/.340/.538 with a .878 OPS. 7 HR + 3 2B in 93 AB with 18 SO and 9 BB.

Reportedly being promoted to AAA today. Only 22 until next spring, will get his chance in ST to be Catcher #2. Very promising rise this season.

Offline imref

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #17: August 31, 2022, 11:21:55 AM »
26 games in AA - .280/.340/.538 with a .878 OPS. 7 HR + 3 2B in 93 AB with 18 SO and 9 BB.

Reportedly being promoted to AAA today. Only 22 until next spring, will get his chance in ST to be Catcher #2. Very promising rise this season.

Going to be real interesting to see what they do with him. If he does well at Rochester he probably becomes a trade candidate versus a backup for Ruiz.

Offline imref

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #18: August 31, 2022, 01:18:17 PM »
So if he produces at Rochester, do we trade Ruiz?

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NexGen Nats @NexGenNats
One more note on Israel Pineda, who was just promoted to Rochester. He has thrown out an absurd 41% of base-stealers in the minors. And it's been consistent as he's moved up: 43-41-44-40-40. Ruiz is at 25% career. Yadi Molina is at 40% lifetime, for reference. #Nats

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #19: August 31, 2022, 02:08:57 PM »
So if he produces at Rochester, do we trade Ruiz?
No. It’s the minors. At least we know Ruiz is a passable hitter in MLB.  What was Ruiz rate of throwing out batters in the minors?  I think Adams may be the odd guy out eventually. 

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #20: August 31, 2022, 02:15:14 PM »
So if he produces at Rochester, do we trade Ruiz?

not yet.  We have another 3 years or so before we trade Ruiz.

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #21: September 02, 2022, 11:26:56 AM »
It's pretty remarkable how it seemed to have clicked this year.  His A ball experience in 2019 and 2021 led to that mediocre profile in FG this summer (a 40, with questions on his arm and his OBP skills). 

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Pineda began 2022 where he spent most of last year: at High-A (Wilmington is Washington’s new affiliate), where he still flashes big pull power but has stagnated in other areas. Scouts don’t think Pineda is a lock to catch because he doesn’t have a great arm, but they love his workmanship and makeup, and think he’ll find a way to be a viable defender through his competence in the other facets of catching via sheer effort. He projects as a low-OBP hitter with above-average raw power, likely a bat-first backup so long as he remedies his rough-around-the-edges defense.

A .325 OBP at A+ and higher over ~110 PAs at AA and AAA.  I guess that probably translates lower at the MLB level if you discount AA/AAA as a small sample, so say that really is a .300 OBP +/- .015.  I guess that's low OBP, but among the 51 catchers in MLB with > 150 PAs (IOW, most of the regulars and backups other than call ups), that would put him in the middle third (#16 Narvaez to #34 Alfaro).  It looks  like he had a lot of passed balls in 2019
(26 in 709 innings) but has cut back some (9 in 479 innings in 2021, 8 in ~650 innings in 2022).  For comparison, Ruiz has 4 in 815 innings, and only 2 catchers have 8 (Maldonado and Stassi).  I don't get the comments on his arm - he's been at a about a 40% rate his whole career.

I wonder if Jorge Alfaro (.305 OBP, throws out about 1/3 of his runners, some pop) is a good comp.

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #22: September 09, 2022, 04:31:10 PM »
Added to the roster and called up.  Replace McGee on the 40 man and Ruiz on the active roster.  Ruiz to the 10 day IL. 

Offline wj73

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #23: September 11, 2022, 12:59:21 PM »
Kind of fun - I’ve seen him play in Hagerstown, Wilmington, and Harrisburg. Great to see him making his MLB debut today!

Offline imref

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Re: Follow the Prospects: Israel Pineda, C
« Reply #24: May 09, 2023, 02:20:21 PM »
Still out after breaking his finger in March.