Former #4 pick Riley Pint announces his retirement

Riley Pint, the righthanded pitcher out of St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park, Kansas, has announced his retirement from baseball. Pint, who is just 23, was the #4 overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft.

Pint, who was picked by the Colorado Rockies, was one of the most highly regarded players in the 2016 draft, a big, athletic righthander who touched 102 mph with his fastball as an amateur and who Baseball America had as the #2 overall prospect in the draft. He had control problems in his first pro action in 2016, walking 23 in 37 IP, but still was impressive enough to be a consensus top 50 prospect that offseason. A shaky 2017 season in the Sally League, where he walked 59 against 79 Ks in 93 IP, saw him drop some, but he still viewed as a top 100 guy.

In 2018 things went sideways, as he only threw 8.1 innings, walking 11. 2019 was a disaster, as he had 31 walks and 23 Ks in 17.2 IP over 21 games, with reports that his injury problems had morphed into the yips. Pint has been in high-A Spokane this year, appearing in 10 games and throwing 10.2 IP, allowing 10 walks and 17 Ks. The control problems have apparently been enough to lead him to hang it up.

The top of the 2016 draft hasn’t seen great returns as of yet. Mickey Moniak went first over all, followed by Nick Senzel and Ian Anderson. Corey Ray went fifth to the Milwaukee Brewers, followed by A.J. Puk, Braxton Garrett, Cal Quantrill, Matt Manning and Zack Collins.