QUEENS, NY — Jonathan Pintaro thought that he was being pranked.
Shortly after arriving at the team hotel in Rochester to join the Triple-A Syracuse Mets, where he had just been promoted from Double-A Binghamton, the right-handed reliever was told that he had to pack his bags once more and head out.
This time, though, it was to join the big-league club in Queens for their game on Wednesday night against the Atlanta Braves.
“I was like, ‘Are you serious?'” Pintaro recalled, as disbelief quickly became reality at 11 p.m. on Tuesday night.
This was a fitting twist for the 27-year-old, who had wandered the proverbial baseball desert with no evidence of refuge for the last nine years.
He spent six seasons at Shorter University, a small, private Christian school in Rome, GA, before joining the Glacier Range Riders of the Pioneer League in Montana in 2023.
“It’s been unreal,” Pintaro said of his journey. “It’s been a dream come true. I did six years of college, and I was like, ‘Alright, nothing happened.’ So I went to Indy ball in Montana, and I was like, ‘I’ll give it one or two more years, see how it goes.’
“That second year, it happened.”
The Mets came calling last year, signing him out of Glacier and placing them at the bottom of their minor-league system.
“It was just a mix of emotions,” Pintaro recalled. “I called my family, and we were all crying because I finally got signed.”
In 2024, he played at every farm level, even making an appearance with Triple-A Syracuse. He went a combined 3-6 with a 2.68 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 74 innings pitched.
He was 0-2 with a 3.40 ERA in 11 starts in Double-A this season before his wild 24 hours landed him in the majors.
“Pretty cool story, right?” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza asked. “I think this is an organizational win when you’re talking about a kid that was pitching in independent ball last year. For our scouting department to identify the talent, put him in the system, and then player development, helping this kid to a point where his name is in the conversation for a potential call-up. Now, he’s getting an opportunity. Credit to him. It’s not easy what he did.”
With a delivery that Mendoza described as “funky,” coming out of the three-quarter slot, Pintaro relies on the combination of a sinker and cutter. Considering he has been utilized as a starter, he will be available to throw 75 to 80 pitches out of a bullpen that has been taxed as of late.
“It’ll be a little different… but I don’t think it’ll be a problem,” Pintaro said.
Upon his debut, he will become just the second player from Shorter University in MLB history, joining Bob Long, a pitcher who made appearances for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Seattle Mariners during the 1981 and 1985 seasons.
“It’s unreal,” he said. “I went to a private Christian school in Rome, GA. They don’t really get those big-name people because it’s private, more expensive, but I was honored to go there and play for the coaches.
“I’ve talked to all my coaches last night and this morning, and pretty much every single teammate I’ve ever played with.”
He had to put his non-stop ringing phone to the side, though, when Mets superstar outfielder Juan Soto approached him at his locker.
“He just said that they’re here for me, and we’re here to win,” he said, trying to hide a star-struck grin, though ultimately admitting that it was as large a “pinch-me” moment as ever.
Quite a long way from Montana, or Rome, for that matter.
