TODAY: Pinder went into more detail about his decision, telling Slusser and Matt Kawahara that “there’s been times where I was like, ’Why do I play anymore, what is my purpose of playing?’ Over the last year or so, I couldn’t come up with the answers for it. I’ve always said that once I felt I could give more to the game outside the white lines than between them, that was probably the time. While I still think I can play baseball, I just know for me physically, mentally, for my family, it was time.”
Pinder’s next step is to spend time with his wife and two children, and he is also intending to explore clinical health studies program at grad school. He left the door open to a further career in baseball in some capacity, saying “I’m excited to get on the other side. I want to help other people in their careers. I will gain more from that than I would playing another year or two, whether be in Triple-A or even in the big leagues.”
MAY 27: Veteran utilityman Chad Pinder is playing his final pro game, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Twitter link) that Pinder will retire following tonight’s appearance with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett. Pinder is hitting seventh and starting at first base for the Stripes as they face the Durham Bulls.
A second-round pick for the Athletics in the 2013 draft, Pinder spent all of his seven Major League seasons in an A’s uniform, batting .242/.294/.417 (96 wRC+) over 1740 plate appearances from 2016-22. The right-handed hitting Pinder was naturally more productive against lefties than righties, as he had a .778 career OPS against southpaws and a .660 OPS against right-handed pitching. Pinder had only 26 career postseason plate appearances, but he made them count, posting a whopping 1.021 OPS during Oakland’s 2020 playoff run.
Beyond his work at the plate, Pinder was also immensely valuable to the A’s as a Swiss army knife of a utility player. Over his 537 career games in the big leagues, he made appearances as a left fielder (195 games), right fielder (148), second baseman (92), third baseman (55), shortstop (43), center fielder (16), first baseman (six) and even a single appearance on the mound. Pinder’s ability to play anywhere allowed Oakland’s managers and front office some extra flexibility in deciding how to fill out a roster, how to account for injuries, or in deciding on in-game adjustments.
The 2022 season saw Pinder make a career-high 379 PA, as there was plenty of playing time to be had on a rebuilding Athletics team that was almost bereft of veteran players. However, Pinder hit only .235/.263/.385, and had a sub-replacement level -0.1 fWAR. The A’s let Pinder go in free agency, and Atlanta represents Pinder’s third minor league deal of the last five months. The Reds cut Pinder from their minors deal near the end of Spring Training, and a follow-up minor league contract with the Nationals also led to a release in early May.
Cumulatively, Pinder has hit .256/.322/.402 over 90 PA at the Triple-A level this season with the Nats’ and Braves’ top affiliates, but it would appear as though he has decided to hang up his glove rather than wait for another call to the majors. Pinder just turned 31 back in March, but it seems like the next phase of his baseball career might just be starting, as Pinder seems likely to get a wide range of coaching offers. As Slusser writes, Pinder was “always a superb and unselfish team leader. He will be a great manager one day.”
We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Pinder on a fine career, and we wish him all the best in his post-playing endeavors.
julyn82001
Like Chad. Played through some injuries with the A’s… His versatility was his trade card…
Arnold Ziffel
Say it isn’t so.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Ponder Pinder
bronxmac77
Please… don’t pander to the Pinder ponderers.
Ketch
Nice pun-der…
bronxmac77
Lots of punster pundits plunder this site by profoundly pounding puns.
):^O
stymeedone
Very surprising, as he had his most ABs last year. That has to be a rare time for retirement. Best of luck to his future.
ohyeadam
Looking at hiss bbref page has me wondering how he’s not getting more chances. Only 30, league average ops for career. Seems like the perfect guy to earn his 10 years as a AAAA player
Mitchell Page
I thought he would . It’s hard to toil with different minor league team year after year . Then they start running out of the money they made on a MLB roster . Maybe we see you on coaching squad in Vegas for the new Vegas A’s .
avenger65
He might not have had it in him anymore to keep trying to catch on with a major league team. Although he’s only 31, he’s not the first player to retire young when a coaching position opens up.
gbs42
He made over $8M in his career. I certainly hope that doesn’t run out any time soon.
kmk1986
Maybe he’s just burnt out and sick of riding the bus
gbs42
My my, hey hey,
It’s better to burn out than to fade away
em650r
There’s more to the story then meets the eye
bronxmac77
“We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Pinder on a fine career, and we wish him all the best in his post-playing endeavors.”
Someone once asked the late great Jerry Coleman, Padres announcer, why he wasn’t more critical of the players in the field. The six-time World Champion and USMC wartime pilot said:
“Because I’ve never forgotten how hard this game is to play.”
Indeed. Congratulations Mr. Pinder.
This one belongs to the Reds
Absolutely. When people say of a big league player, “he’s not any good,” I always say “he made it to the big leagues. You know how rare that is?” I have seen a lot of good minor league players in my time who never made it to The Show.
DarkSide830
Almost no one who says a player sucks is saying they are below average at the game in general. They mean they aren’t one of the 26×30 best players in the world. For many players, this is the case.
bronxmac77
The only time I really blast a player is if he dogs it on the field. I realize a lot of fans use ‘suck’ as a comparative term… including me at times.
miltpappas
I played in Little League one year. I went 1-for-8 and the “hit” should have been ruled an error. It’s not an easy game. Most of us get that, fortunately.
Mendoza Line 215
Milt- And here all along I thought that you were the ML pitcher who was good enough to be traded for Frank Robinson!
Ketch
Only 780 people get to appear on a roster each day. I cannot imagine being one of the best 780 people in the world at ANYTHING
Not a clever name
@ketch my philosophy has always been it’s better to win the special Olympics than to not place in the actual Olympics.
toptimrubies
I love this. Pretty spectacular accomplishment to get into 553 MLB games. Congratulations to Chad.
Not a clever name
@toptimrubies. I say this as a Giants fan that has watched the A’s at a distance and not you typical “the A’s have two fans” troll. I don’t think most those games should count as MLB games at least not any of them from 2022 or 2020. The A’s were either flipping players through the line up to avoid paying higher arbitration bills or a good percentage of MLB players were sitting it over Covid. Nothing against Pinder I like the guy to be honest but it’s more likely he would have seen about a quarter of that playing time on a contender during any period of mlb history other than now or the 1940’s
toptimrubies
The A’s made the playoffs in 2020 and no players from the 40 man sat out due to COVID, so this take doesn’t really work out.
A'sfaninMaine
I always enjoyed watching Pinder play for the A’s and usually felt he did not get a particularly fair chance at playing every day, because he didn’t have a specialty position and ended up being used as a utility fielder, never getting a consistent run at a specific position. Shame, I always liked him and felt the team underrated and underused him. Best of luck with whatever he does next.
Yanks2
Yawn
louwhitakerisahofer
Exactly how we feel about your life’s work…
Yanks2
Pinder has a career .242 batting average; his retirement shouldn’t even be news
Moonlight Graham
When I saw the headline, it evoked surprise and curiosity. So, at least to me, a Northern Californian and a baseball fan, this was worth the blurb.
thickiedon
Yank Well, here at MLBTR, we disagree. Maybe ESPN is more for your liking.
bronxmac77
You’re outvoted, yankster.
You should leave.
goalieguy41
Says the best guy on his beer league slo pitch team
goalieguy41
Says the best guy on his beer league slo pitch team.
bronxmac77
Your 1.2 GPA in grammar school shouldn’t have been news.
bronxmac77
You need your binky, yanker?
D2323
Pinder isn’t good but he’s not that bad, relatively of course. 31 is early to retire, even if he thinks he can’t get back to the majors he could probably score a job overseas. Maybe he just wants to spend time with his family or whatever, hopefully he invested his prior earnings wisely and has a plan for after baseball because he’s leaving money on the table.
bronxmac77
I’ll say! Meal money alone is over $100 a day… That’s tax free!
BaseballBrian
Pinder? I barely knew er!
etex211
He earned over $8 million playing baseball. Congratulations to him.
sascoach2003
All the keyboard warriors can bad mouth Chad Pinder all they want, but he made the show, what the rest of us just dream about. Props.
bronxmac77
Yessir.
My wish, if I had one, would be the same as Doc Graham’s in Field of Dreams. Word for word.
Pinder got to do it.
In Seager/Hader We Trust > the 70 MM DH Ohtani
What did he say?
bronxmac77
“Well, you know I… I never got to bat in the major leagues. I would have liked to have had that chance. Just once. To stare down a big league pitcher. To stare him down, and just as he goes into his windup, wink. Make him think you know something he doesn’t. That’s what I wish for. Chance to squint at a sky so blue that it hurts your eyes just to look at it. To feel the tingling in your arm as you connect with the ball. To run the bases – stretch a double into a triple, and flop face-first into third, wrap your arms around the bag. That’s my wish, Ray Kinsella. That’s my wish. And is there enough magic out there in the moonlight to make this dream come true?”
*******
Moonlight Graham, as portrayed by Burt Lancaster in his final role.
sanfranb27
Once a Hokie always a Hokie! Good luck in the future CP!!
baseballandbrews
3.5 WAR and walking away with $8.2M in earnings…. Enjoy post at-bat life!
Gumby82
One of my favorite A’s. Played a key role on some playoff teams. Never forget that 3 run homer he hit in Game 3 against the Astros to tie the game. Thank you, Chad! I hope you and Vogt become successful managers in the future
thickiedon
If only the Astros signed Pinder instead of resigning Brantley
Dumpster Divin Theo
Oh noes. Who’s gonna shuttle Deadpool around?
Don T
The A’s should never have let him go. He’s more valuable than many of their current players.
StephCurry'sWiggleMove
You could say that about pretty much any ex-A’s player
Buff Barnacles
With how much the game has changed since Pinder was a rookie I can understand a player losing the passion.. The love of the game lives on; but its not the game we all loved growing up with anymore.
thefaithfulfriar
Well you done. Congrats $8mil in VA should help with the next chapter
signenderinciarte
Braves Legend, Chad Pinder
DCartrow
Right there with Pat Valaika.
Mrbarky
At age 62 Chadd’s mlb pension will kick in at $143,750 will full medical benefits!Great job Chad!
Armaments216
I thought the medical benefits were for life, and kicked in immediately for all MLB players after about 6 weeks of service time.
bronxmac77
Stay classy, cheese.
Stay cheesy too.
Non Roster Invitee
I like players that have first names as countries – Jordan Montgomery
Armaments216
Israel Pineda
bronxmac77
Neighbors!