All-Time Top 100 Marlins: #56 Renyel Pinto

Throughout the 2016-17 offseason, Fish Stripes is counting down the top 100 Marlins of all-time. For comparison’s sake, we are using the Wins Above Replacement (WAR) metric as a measuring device. The top 100 WAR ratings are being featured. Today’s Marlin, Renyel Eligio Pinto, earned 3.4 while with Florida.

Renyel Pinto was a 6’4”, 280 lb. left-handed pitcher from Cupira, Venezuela. Born on July 8th, 1982, he signed with the Chicago Cubs out of UE Nacional 5 High School in 1999, and joined the Arizona Fall League rookie-level Cubs soon after in the 2000 season. He went 0-2 in nine appearances, with a 6.30 ERA, a 1.933 WHIP, and 23 whiffs in 30.0 innings.

In 2001, Pinto joined the Lansing Lugnuts in the single-A Midwest League, where he got 20 rotation starts, going 4-8 with a 5.22 ERA, a 1.568 WHIP, and 69 strikeouts in 88.0 innings. After starting the following campaign with Lansing (17 games, 16 starts, 7-5, 3.31 ERA, 1.092 WHIP, 92 K’s in 98.0 innings), the Cubs sent Pinto to the Daytona Cubs in the high-A Florida State League (seven starts, 3-3, 5.51 ERA, 1.714 WHIP, 24 K’s in 32.2 innings).

2003 would see Pinto remain another season with Daytona (20 games, 19 starts, 3-8, 3.22 ERA, 1.298 WHIP, 104 strikeouts in 114.2 innings). Most of 2004 was spent mostly by Pinto with the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx in the double-A Southern League (25 starts, 11-8, 2.92 ERA, 1.264 WHIP, 179 strikeouts in 141.2 innings. He got to the triple-A level Iowa Cubs in the International League before the end of the season, going 1-1 in two starts. He split another season between the Jaxx and Iowa in 2005, going a combined 11-5 with a 3.72 ERA, a 1.405, and 147 K’s in 152.1 innings over 28 starts. After the season ended, the Cubs traded Pinto with Sergio Mitre and Ricky Nolasco to the Marlins for Juan Pierre.

Pinto spent most of 2006 with Florida’s triple-A affiliate, the Albuquerque Isotopes in the Pacific Coast League, with whom he posted an 8-2 record over 18 starts. He earned a 3.40 ERA and whiffed 96 batters in 95.1 innings, posting a 1.353 WHIP. He was called up to the Marlins a few times through the season, making his first major league appearance on May 18th. In that game, a 9-1 setback at the hands of the Atlanta Braves, Pinto pitched a scoreless eighth, allowing a hit and striking out one.

On August 2nd, Pinto relieved the shellshocked Nolasco in the third inning, trailing the New York Mets, 5-0, then pitched five innings, striking out as many and allowing only an unearned run in an eventual 6-5 loss.

Pinto did a great job that allowed us to come back - Marlins manager Joe Girardi

On October 1st, in a 3-2 Florida win over the Philadelphia Phillies, Pinto pitched a perfect ninth inning, striking out two in the 11-inning affair. In 27 games in total, he went 0-0 with a 3.03 ERA, a 1.584 WHIP, and struck out 36 in just 29.2 innings. His 10.9 K’s per nine innings would have led the team if he had thrown more while on the big club. The 78-84 Marlins posted a 10-17 record when Pinto got into the game and a 68-67 record when he did not.

In 2007, Pinto spent the season with Florida from opening day. The team went 26-31 in games in which he appeared, and 45-60 in games where he didn’t. For himself, he went 2-4 over 57 appearances, with a 3.68 ERA, a 1.313 WHIP, and 56 whiffs in 58.2 innings pitched.

On April 20th, Pinto pitched the 12th and 13th innings against the Washington Nationals, holding them scoreless on one hit in a game the Marlins eventually lost, 6-5 in 14 innings. On July 18th, Pinto pitched well in a 6-0 Marlins loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, striking out four in three hitless innings of relief. Unfortunately, Dontrelle Willis had allowed six runs on 11 hits over the first three innings, and Kip Wells went eight strong for the cards, allowing just two hits.

2008 would see Pinto get into a team-second 67 contests for Marlins pitching, behind Kevin Gregg. Pinto posted a 2-5 record and a 4.45 ERA, with a 1.407 WHIP, 56 K’s in 64.2 innings, and just 7.2 hits allowed per nine innings. The Marlins, 37-30 when Pinto pitched, went .500 when he didn’t, going 47-47.

On April 7th, Pinto earned a win in relief, striking out three in 2.2 hitless innings against the Washington Nationals. The Marlins took the contest by a 10-7 final score. On April 19th, Pinto allowed just a single over three innings of relief as the Marlins defeated the Nats again, 6-5.

Pinto was again second on the Marlins in appearances in 2009, with 73 games (to Juan Carlos Oviedo’s 75). Pinto went 4-1 with a 3.23 ERA and a 1.598 WHIP, striking out 58 in 61.1 innings. The 87-75 Fish posted a 35-38 record in Pinto’s games, going 52-37 otherwise.

On June 19th, Pinto came into a contest against the New York Yankees trailing 5-1, with nobody out and two runners in scoring position in the top of the 5th, then struck out Robinson Cano, intentionally walked Melky Cabrera, got Angel Berroa to fly out, and induced a harmless Andy Pettitte groundout to escape the jam. Unfortunately, the 5-1 score was the eventual final. June 30th would see Pinto earn a win in relief by striking out the side in the top of the seventh, watching the Marlins knock in three runs in the bottom of the inning, then see the rest of the game get cancelled due to rain in a 7-5, 7-inning victory over the Nationals. On July 11th, in a 5-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Pinto inherited two runners in scoring position, then pitched a perfect bottom of the seventh to get out of the pinch.

Pinto got into 20 games for the Marlins in 2010, posting a 2.70 ERA without a decision and racking up a 1.500 WHIP with 16 K’s in 16.2 innings pitched. In parts of five seasons with the Marlins, he went 8-10 overall with a 3.62 ERA, a 1.463 WHIP and 222 strikeouts in 231.0 innings.