Power of Pink: Andrew Pinckney's Offseason Work Already Paying Dividends
"To be fair, the ball was outside," Andrew Pinckney laughed.
While the deep voice of Pinckney came through the earpiece of a telephone with his face hidden from sight, the tone indicated the cheerful grin that Alabama baseball's star junior outfield has become known for.
Pinckney was regaling with a story from the Crimson Tide's spring training that indicated the progress that he had made over the offseason. The story involved his head coach, Brad Bohannon, and a home run during a scrimmage that, while successful, was not where his coach had requested that he hit it.
“We were doing our little fireball scrimmage and at the end of the round sometimes Coach Bo is like, ‘Just hit a home run,’" Pinckney said. "Every now and then I have trouble pulling the ball for power. That’s what I’ve kind of been working on at the plate.
"So, he told me to hit the ball over the scoreboard and — to be fair, the ball was outside and I couldn’t hit the ball over the left field fence, so I just tried to put a good swing on it and it just happened to go over the fence.”
Pinckney capped off the story with his coach's reaction:
“He was like, ‘Pink, I told you to hit it over the left field and you hit it over in right field,” Pinckney laughed. “’What are you doing?’”
As a freshman in the 2021 season, Pinckney received little to no playing time until later on in the season. While his bat was far from impressive — he finished the season with a .245 batting average that included just 11 RBI and one home run — his fielding skills were what began to raise the eyebrows of MLB scouts.
Alabama Athletics
Following the season, Pinckney began to focus on improving his plate performance. In 2022, it quickly became obvious that his efforts in improving his bat had been very successful. At the end of the season, Pinckney finished with the Crimson Tide's second-best batting average at .303. He also led the team in both hits and runs with 63 and 48, respectively, and finished fourth on the team in home runs with seven.
That last stat was what bugged Pinckney the most. So much so, in fact, that when the season ended at the tail-end of last May, he immediately set out to put in more work to improve his power and consistency.
“I think probably the first thing after last year was getting in the weight room a little more and putting on some weight,” Pinckney said. “I just feel like I made a lot of strides at the plate and being able to hit the ball more consistently and I think be able to put on some more muscle and have some more ‘oomf’ in my bat definitely helps my game a lot and will help me put up some more power numbers.
“I think mentally, too — just having more experience and approaching every day with more consistency and just having that maturity in my game is definitely going to take me a long way this year and hopefully for much longer afterwards and the rest of my career.”
Pinckney claims that he's gained around 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason, and one look at him seems to immediately back up that claim.
Last weekend, Alabama opened up the 2023 season with a three-game series against the Richmond Spiders. In the series, Pinckney put on an absolute hitting clinic. On opening day, Pinckney batted a perfect 4-for-4 with a double, two runs and one RBI. The success carried throughout the weekend, with Pinckney finishing the series having batted 8-for-10 (.800) with five runs, two RBI and a whopping 13 total bases.
And, most importantly, Pinckney had already hit his first home run of the season.
“I think this year is a little bit different,” Pinckney said regarding his approach to the season. “Last year was really truly like full, complete year playing every day. I think this year just being able to approach the game the same way and not let the opponent or whoever’s on the mound or whatever it might be — [what] the circumstances dictate, my mindset for that day — just being able to tackle the day with the same attitude and have some more consistency in that frame.”
While it might seem like not too long ago that Pinckney was still scrambling in right field at the Hoover Met making the fantastic diving plays that put him on the map back in 2021, he now returns to an Alabama baseball team on which he is considered on of the veteran leaders.
Alabama Athletics
One of the key strengths of this year's Crimson Tide team is the amount of experience it has on its roster. Pinckney stated that while he might be classified as a junior, he feels younger due to last season being his first complete year as a starter. His growth over his two offseasons, however, can be used as a valuable example that can be passed down to the younger players on the Alabama team.
Pinckney said that his emergence as a leader on the team still surprises him from time to time.
“It’s kind of weird,” Pinckney laughed. “It seems like yesterday I was asking Sam Praytor and Tyler Gentry — all these guys — like, ‘What am I supposed to be doing?’ And now these 18-year-old kids are coming up to me and I’m 22 and it just seems like, ‘Where’d the time go?’
“I definitely see myself as a leader. I wouldn’t say I’m a vocal guy or anything, I just try to lead by example and just go out and practice hard and I think the young guys can look at me and use that as a model rather than being super ‘rah-rah’ and super loud in my leadership. It’s more of a lead-by-example sort of deal.”
It's no secret that Pinckney's self-determination has been a driving factor in his development since first arriving in Tuscaloosa. Over his two seasons, Pinckney could arguably be considered as the most-improved player on the team. While the Crimson Tide might be just five games into a long college baseball season, it's clear that if he keeps up his momentum, Pinckney is capable of turning the heads of MLB scouts for far more than just his fielding abilities.
And when it comes to his leadership, what is the wisdom that he says he passes on the most? The same lesson that he's been focusing on most since the end of last season.
“For the most part just at the plate sticking to your plan and not letting the pitcher dictate what you’re going to do at the plate,” Pinckney said. “Just staying in your game and not getting too amped up or too anxious and just staying calm and doing what you’re best at and that usually reaps good results.”
And if Pinckney keeps up his level of progression and continues to practice what he preaches, then there will soon be a lot more than just Alabama fans that have heard of the Power of Pink.
See Also:
Alabama Baseball 2023 Season Preview
