PHILADELPHIA – There are five tools that are traditionally used to evaluate a baseball player.
Nationals manager Blake Butera has identified a sixth for rookie outfielder Andrew Pinckney.
“Personality-wise, he's one of the greatest kids I've had the chance to meet and get to know a little bit,” Butera said earlier this week.
About those tools ... well, they play against Cy Young Award contenders. In just his second career at-bat, Pinckney belted his first home run off Cristopher Sánchez on Thursday in the Nationals' 7-3 loss to the Phillies.
“That was pretty fun, pretty crazy,” Pinckney said. “I didn’t necessarily think it was going to get out, so I was just trying to get on second or third. But I saw the umpires do this [makes home run motion], so I was freaking out.”
Pinckney sent a sinker a Statcast-projected 402 feet at an exit velocity of 109.3 mph to right-center field at Citizens Bank Park. It was only the 13th homer Sánchez has allowed this season.
“That was awesome. It was shot out of a cannon,” said Butera. “He hit that ball really hard. To do it, obviously, off an arm like Sanchey to right-center field was impressive. Super excited for him. He was fired up. It was a really cool moment for Andrew.”
Pinckney is the seventh player in Nationals team history (2005-present) to homer for his first career hit. It had not been done since Joey Meneses on Aug. 2, 2022. Pinckney also joins Carter Kieboom (April 26, 2019), Juan Soto (May 21, 2018), Corey Brown (July 28, 2012), Tommy Milone (Sept. 3, 2011) and Justin Maxwell (Sept. 11, 2007).
As he rounded the bases, Pinckney’s eyes darted through the ballpark. To the dugout for teammates. In the stands for his family and girlfriend. Citizens Bank Park was a blur.
“I like to tell people that the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me is watching my brother’s dreams come true,” Pinckney’s sister, Alex, told MLB.TV’s Alexa Datt on the broadcast. “I feel like it’s so rare to have a front seat watching someone have a dream and then have it actualized.”
Pinckney, a 2023 fourth-round Draft pick out of Alabama, emerged from a Nationals system crowded with outfield depth. He made his Major League debut as a pinch-runner in extra innings and scored a run on Wednesday night. The next day, he was in the lineup for his first big league start.
“I was definitely glad to get in last night, because it was just crazy being out there for my first time,” said Pinckney. “I think it definitely kind of settled me down. I kind of knew what to expect going into it today.”
Pinckney was promoted on Tuesday when James Wood was placed on the 10-day injured list (oblique). At the time, he was slashing .271/.345/.425 in 94 games with Triple-A Rochester. Butera referred to him that day as “a dynamic player that can bring a lot of different things to us.”
Pinckney actually showed off his arm in the Majors before he showed off his swing. In the second inning, he fielded a Trea Turner double off the left-field wall as Justin Crawford rounded third base. Pinckney fired the ball with an arm strength of 89 mph to shortstop CJ Abrams, who hurled the relay to catcher Keibert Ruiz for the out at home plate.
“Seeing what he's able to do on the baseball field is pretty special,” Butera said on Tuesday. “He's able to do some things that not many in this game can do because of the type of athlete that he is. Now it's going to be about consistency and if he can put it all together.”
Pinckney was well into his second full season in Triple-A when a Major League callup diverted him from Scranton, Pa., to Philadelphia on Tuesday. Now, he is heading to Washington, D.C., on Thursday night as a Major League player who has homered off one of the most dominant pitchers in the game.
“That’s pretty crazy when you put it like that,” Pinckney said. “I guess that’s how life works.”