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VENTURA, CALIF. - The Uncommitted Spotlight Series returns as we wind down from a packed fall of Prep Baseball California events, scout baseball, and other opportunities to evaluate players we will be recognizing some of the top remaining uncommitted players around the state. We will be looking at players from the 2026 class and 2027 classes across the upcoming weeks/months. 

We invite you to get to know them through the eyes of our Prep Baseball California staff of scouts both through our in person looks at players and/or the data-backed numbers collected at our events with our partnered companies. TrackMan, Blast Motion, and VALD Performance provide comparable data to project and evaluate players. All of these systems come together to give a clear picture at what colleges will get when a players steps onto their campus.

Today, we put the spotlight on a talented 2026 player who is featured inside the Top 250 of our 2026 California rankings. We are looking at the SoCal based '26 INF Danny Pina from Simi Valley High School in Simi Valley, Calif.. Pina was a standout at the 2025 Prep Baseball California Central California Preseason All State event. His showing there was his debut on our event platform and catapulted him into a very strong JR. season for the Pioneers program at Simi Valley which claimed the Coastal Canyon League title and reached the second round of the CIF-Southern Section D2 playoffs.

During his JR. season with Simi Valley Pina found a home in the middle of the Pioneers order where his strong hit tool helped power an offense which pushed their way to a title. Playing in all 29 games while manning the shortstop position for the Pioneers he took 110 plate appearances with 100 official at bats. During those trips to the plate the RH hitter posted a solid overall slash line of .310/.364/.360 and was extremely productive with runners on base to top the program with 29 RBIs. Danny's 31 total hits was tied for third on the squad while adding five doubles to his output and scoring 12 runs. Pina drew eight walks on the spring with 12 Ks showing a solid approach and feel for bat to ball. He showed flashes of a long term potential to handle SS during the spring, but he is very capable of being a strong defender at 2B/3B at the next level which may suit him better and bring even more offensive output with the shift.

The RH hitting Pina works from a lower hand set with a wider base that allows him to utilize a simple load with a small hand push back and short forward toe tap stride. He is consistently on time or early to the launch position allowing him to make sound swing decisions and his hips rotate with solid present torque posting 14.1 Gs of rotational acceleration. His swing path is compact/direct geared mainly for contact with solid present metrics in both his quick hands up to 21.7 MPH peak hand speed with his direct path producing bat speed at 68.1 MPH. His simple operation in the box combined with his sound approach/timing produced strong batted ball data via Trackman including a max EV up to 95.8 MPH while averaging 88.4 MPH on his EV during batting practice at the Central California Preseason All State. Pina had a 57% hard hit rate with an accurate barrel that posted a 319' max distance. With future added strength to his frame and some tweaking to his operation/intent the natural feel for his barrel to go with the bat to ball profile has more impact to come in the future on top of the hit tool he has shown.

Pina presently checks in at 5'9 170.4 lbs. frame with room to fill another 10-15 lbs. on the frame which can bring the increased future impact we discussed for his offensive profile. Pina has sound hands with clean footwork and shows good angles playing at SS with an arm the relies on a quick transfer and accuracy over pure arm strength (78 MPH INF velo at Central California Preseason All State).

The overall profile for Pina is sound especially on the offensive side with the tools to stick on the dirt as an INF defender. Additionally, there is future projection for him as he can add strength to a solid frame and trend his athleticism upwards in the future to make him a strong name to know in the 2026 class for college programs.

College coaches and fans be sure to click on Pina's profile to see full video and information.

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