Milwaukee Brewers Prospect Spotlight: Manny Pina

The Milwaukee Brewers have plenty of hot bats to go around throughout their farm system

If I were to tell you there’s a backstop in the Milwaukee Brewers system that’s hitting over .300, you’d probably guess  Josh Nottingham. But while Nottingham has struggled in his first month at AA, Manny Pina has excelled for AAA Colorado. He’s this week: Sky Sox Spotlight.

Manny Pina was born on June 5, 1987. He began his career with the Texas Rangers and ended up playing in their minor league system from 2005-2009. After the 2009 season, he was traded to the Kansas City Royals. His 2011 and 2012 seasons were some of his best at the minor league level, and that earned him his first major league call-up. He only accumulated 16 AB’s between the two seasons, however. Eventually, he was designated for assignment and sent back down to AAA. In 2014, he signed with the Seattle Mariners and in June of that year was traded to the Detroit Tigers. Finally, after the Milwaukee Brewers traded Francisco Rodriguez to the Detroit Tigers, he was the PTBNL sent to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Manny Pina was never an elite catching prospect like Josh Nottingham is, and he’s certainly not as talented offensively (he owns a minor league career OPS of .707), but he’s off to a sweltering start in hitter-friendly Colorado. In 55 (small sample alert) at-bats, Manny Pina has a slash line of .382/.414/.618. He’s even hit for two triples this year–the first two of his career.

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With a potential Jonathan Lucroy trade on the horizon, and as we inch closer to July 31st, the Milwaukee Brewers have an in-house option to become the backup (or to potentially start) with Martin Maldonado. I imagine part of the reason David Stearns acquired Manny Pina from the Detroit Tigers as a PTBNL was precisely because of the Lucroy situation.  And now that he’s off to a hot start, perhaps we could see him at the big league level sooner rather than later.