Signed as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela in 2016 for $450,000, 22-year-old catcher Israel Pineda started the 2022 campaign at Class-A Wilmington, moved up to Double-A Harrisburg, and then jumped to Triple-A Rochester before the backstop was called up to make his big league debut this past September.
“He was doing really well,” Washington’s skipper Davey Martinez told reporters in the nation’s capital after the Nationals called Pineda up. “He jumped a bunch, he ended up in Rochester at the end there, and has been playing really well, so we want to give him an opportunity to come up here and see what he can do.