Chad Pinder to Retire

After bouncing around the minors in 2023, Chad Pinder is calling it a career

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that Chad Pinder is retiring after his game in Gwinnett on Saturday night. 

Pinder, 31, has been a fan favorite in Oakland since his debut in 2016, and many on social media would plead for the A's to get him more playing time throughout his career. The most games he ever played in one season was 124 back in 2019 when he hit .240 with a .290 OBP and 13 home runs. 

Most fans will likely remember his 2020 playoff run, which included some monster hits. He went 7-for-22 that postseason with two homers and seven rbi. 

Before the 2022 season the A's traded away Matt Olson and Matt Chapman among others, whom Pinder had risen through the minor leagues with. He didn't have the best season of his career, but it wasn't too far off from the production he'd had the previous three seasons. 

Pinder hit free agency this past off-season and ended up signing a minor-league deal with the Cincinnati Reds, but struggled mightily during spring training, batting just .103 (4-for-39). The Reds released him on March 24, and he was signed to another minor-league deal with the Washington Nationals. He went 12-for-55 (.218) with a .308 in Triple-A Rochester.

The Nationals released him on May 5. 

About a week later, he found another landing spot with the Atlanta Braves on a third minor-league deal. In his first two games he went 8-for-11 with a pair of homers, and has gone 1-for-16 since. 

Some fans were hoping that with the Atlanta Braves coming to Oakland to begin next week that Pinder would be a part of the group of former A's returning to the Coliseum in addition to Matt Olson, Sean Murphy, and Jesse Chavez. 

Pinder finishes his career with 62 home runs, 197 runs batted in, and 3.6 bWAR.