Before the 2024 Dominican Summer League season began, Baseball America’s Ben Badler identified infielder Avinson Pinto as a potential sleeper from the Red Sox’ most recent international signing class.
Pinto, Badler wrote, “didn’t get a ton of attention as an amateur player” before signing with Boston for $25,000 as a 16-year-old free agent in January. The native Venezuelan celebrated his 17th birthday on May 29 and made his professional debut for DSL Red Sox Red five days later.
In 44 regular-season games, Pinto batted .320/.407/.393 with four doubles, two triples, one home run, 16 RBIs, 12 stolen bases, 17 walks, and 15 strikeouts over 172 plate appearances. The young switch-hitter then went 7-for-27 (.259) with one triple, four RBIs, and a team-leading eight runs scored in seven playoff games to help the organization claim its first Dominican Summer League title since 2016.
Among the 197 DSL hitters who made at least 170 trips to the plate in the regular season, Pinto posted the seventh-lowest swinging-strike rate (12.9 percent) and ninth-lowest strikeout rate (8.7 percent). He also ranked 15th in batting average, 54th in on-base percentage, 58th in wRC+, 64th in OPS (.800), 69th in slugging percentage, and 87th in speed score (7.2), per FanGraphs.
On the other side of the ball, Pinto saw all of his playing time on the field this year come at shortstop. In the process of logging 328 innings at short, the athletic 5-foot-11, 150-pounder committed six errors in 193 chances while “showing the strong baseball IQ and defensive skills to stick” at the position, according to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.
Pinto is currently regarded by SoxProspects.com as the No. 53 prospect in Boston’s farm system. Like Justin Gonzales and Edwin Brito, he is also projected to make his stateside debut in the rookie-level Florida Complex League next year.
(Picture of Avinson Pinto via his Instagram)
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