Andrew Pinckney: From Walk-On to Prospect

Among many varied interests growing up, Andrew Pinckney loved baseball and the University of Alabama.

His father, David, passed the love of the game down to his only son, teaching Andrew the sport and mentoring his development. The elder Pinckney played baseball collegiately at Grambling State University in the late 1970s, where he earned All-SWAC honors.

Andrew's fanaticism for all things Crimson Tide came by birthright. His mother, Tami, went to school there, and he was born a stone's throw away from campus in the local hospital. Andrew's formative years spent rooting for Nick Saban and a football team that won six National Championships only deepened his affection for the school.

Despite batting .360 with eight home runs his senior season at McIntosh High School (Peachtree City, Ga.) and being chosen to numerous All-Tournament Teams on the travel ball circuit, Pinckney garnered little interest from college coaches limiting his options to play at the next level.

Except for the one place he really wanted to go.

However, Alabama's offer to the 6-foot-3 outfielder gave him the opportunity to just walk-on to the squad. He had no guarantees he'd see any playing time surrounded by highly-ranked recruits during his four years there. It was a chance he was willing to take.

"Everybody saw me as the guy going to Alabama," Pinckney said. "I didn't want not to play and transfer. It's really nerve-wracking because you don't want to let everybody down."

By his own admission, Pinckney was overwhelmed by the pitching talent as a freshman, electing to redshirt the COVID-shortened season of 17 games. His sophomore campaign was better as he started to adjust and even saw limited playing time. But the breakthrough moment for Pinckney was playing in the Northwoods Summer League in St. Cloud, Minn. There, he gained invaluable experience hitting leadoff every day, was named an All-Star for his efforts, and acquired confidence that would propel him forward.

He was a different player when he returned to campus. In his junior season, he played in all 58 games for the Tide, batting .303 with 14 doubles, three triples, and seven home runs. Also, the outfielder didn't commit an error in 117 chances and added a team-high five assists. He played well, especially in league play against SEC opponents, so he put his name in the draft. But when a call in the late rounds finally came to gauge his interest, Pinckney again took a chance on himself by eschewing the offer and returning to school for his senior season.

The 22-year-old outfielder kept working and improving as he began the year red-hot at the plate. He maintained a high batting average from the start, but it was primarily singles, as his power numbers were absent through mid-April. That's when he turned his fortunes around, hitting four home runs in five games preceding a weekend series against the No. 1 team in the country, Louisiana State University.

Facing Paul Skenes in the marquee Friday night matchup, Pinckney drove a 98 mph fastball eight rows deep over the right-centerfield wall. Alabama lost the game, but Pinckney began getting noticed behind his perfect 5-for-5 performance with three runs scored and three runs driven in off LSU's ace and soon-to-be top overall pick in the 2023 draft,

"I did well off Skenes, and that's when people started to know my name," Pinckney said. "I can't tell you one thing that happened. It was just all of a sudden, things started to click. I started hitting the balls I should be hitting and laying off the pitches I shouldn't be swinging at."

That was the start of a whirlwind four-and-a-half months for Pinckney.

He graduated in May with a degree in management information systems. On the diamond, he led Alabama back to heights the program hadn't been to in a long time. The Crimson Tide nabbed the last national seed in the NCAA Division I tournament, hosting a regional at Sewell–Thomas Stadium for the first time since 2006. The team made it to the Super Regional final, one win away from the College World Series, before losing to Wake Forest 5-4.

After hitting only three home runs before April, Pinckney finished the 2024 season with 18 long balls, batting .339 and driving in 58 runs in 64 games. For his efforts, he was tabbed to the Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award Watch List, selected as the SEC Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year, and earned First Team ABCA/Rawlings All-Southeast Region Team honors.

That bet he made on himself the previous year paid off when the Washington Nationals selected him in the July draft's 4th round (102nd overall).

By the end of the month, Pinckney had already played in two games for the Florida Complex League Nationals before shipping off for Low-A Fredericksburg. What followed was a meteoric rise up the Nationals' system as he played 17 games with the F-Nats and 18 at High-A Wilmington before earning a promotion to Harrisburg for the final week of the season.

"I look up, and it's Thanksgiving," he said. "I was like, what the heck just happened here."

Four short years ago, he didn't know if he was even going to play as a walk-on, and now Pinckney is a part of the bright future of the Nationals, ranked No. 19 by Baseball America among Washington prospects. He has displayed an impressive combination of power and speed for the Senators in 2024, ranking among the Eastern League's leaders in hits and stolen bases.

This article was originally found in issue #3 of the Senators’ program and was reprinted with the permission of the Harrisburg Senators