Cincinnati Reds to Sign Chad Pinder
Entering the off-season, there was a glimmer of hope that Chad Pinder could actually return to Oakland in 2023, but after the A's signed utility players Jace Peterson and Aledmys Díaz to big-league deals, along with having Ernie Clement, Tyler Wade, and Pablo Reyes as extra utility options in the minors, the writing seemed to be on the wall for Pinder's tenure with the A's.
On Monday night, that became official, as Robert Murray is reporting that Pinder and the Reds have come to an agreement on a contract. Mark Sheldon, the Reds reporter for MLB.com, says that it's a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training.
Pinder, entering his age 31 season, played in 111 games with Oakland in 2022, and compiled an 86 wRC+, 14% below league average. He also had a career-worst walk rate of 3.7% to go along with a career-high strikeout rate of 31.1%, both of which ranked in the bottom 5% of MLB. He hit .235 with a .263 on-base.
Even after a down few years, Pinder should see a nice boost playing at Great American Ballpark. He has 62 career home runs, but if all of the balls he's hit came in Cincinnati, he'd have 100 career bombs. He hit 12 homers last year, and would have ended with 18 with the Reds.
Even if the change of scenery itself doesn't improve his peripheral numbers, going from the 28th most difficult place to hit to the second-best, just behind Coors Field in Colorado, should see a pretty good bounce in his counting stats.
He can still crush left-handers, finishing with a 108 wRC+ against them in 2022, while hitting .260 with a .280 OBP.
Roster Resource has placed Pinder on the Reds' 26-man roster, even as a non-roster invitee. Wil Myers is the only player on the Reds to be projected for as many as 20 home runs, so with some slight improvement in his game from last year, coupled with his versatility, Pinder has a good chance at seeing a fair amount of playing time in 2023.