Socorro High School graduate Brandon Pimentel will get his opportunity to play professional baseball after signing a free agent contract with the Washington Nationals.
Pimentel leaves Monday for Florida where he will begin working out with the Nationals organization at their minor league complex and then will be assigned to a minor league team within the organization. The 20 round Major League Baseball Draft was held July 9-11.
Pimentel had a stellar finish to his collegiate career this past season at UT-Rio Grande Valley, which competes in the Western Athletic Conference. He hit .402 with 19 homers, 73 RBI and 52 runs scored. In two years with the program, the outfielder/first baseman Pimentel had a batting average of .389 with 31 homers and 120 RBI.
Also during his college career, Pimentel was a Junior College All-American while playing at Howard College in 2019 when he hit .450 and drove in 70 runs.
In high school at Socorro, he helped the Bulldogs to back-to-back bi-district wins as a junior and senior and an area round title as a junior.
“I’m excited for this opportunity. The last two years in college, I was able to put together good seasons and that helped me grow and helped me get some exposure,” Pimentel said. “I have to keep working hard and I have to earn my way up. I want to work my way up the system and reach my goal of playing in the major leagues. I want to do great things for my hometown. Washington was one of the teams in contact with me throughout the past few weeks and I’m going to give them my best effort.”
It’s been a great week for former El Paso high school baseball stars. Coronado graduate Ivan Melendez was promoted to Double-A Amarillo in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization and Americas graduate Darell Hernaiz was promoted to Triple-A Las Vegas in the Oakland Athletics organization.
More: Americas grade promoted to Triple-A El Paso native Darell Hernaiz promoted to Triple-A Las Vegas
Felix F. Chavez can be reached at [email protected]; @Fchavezeptimes on Twitter
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Socorro graduate Brandon Pimentel signs with Washington Nationals