Washington Nationals move to release veteran utility bat

The Washington Nationals have released Chad Pinder, reports the Talk Nats blog (Twitter link). The veteran utilityman had been in the organization on a minor league contract. He will now return to the open market in search of a new landing spot.

Pinder, 31, notably played parts of seven seasons with the Oakland A’s. The former second-round draftee hit .242/.294/.417 in 553 games with Oakland. At his best, the right-handed batter has compensated for middling on-base marks with decent power production. He has topped double digits in homers on four separate occasions. The bulk of the damage has come against left-handed pitching. Pinder carries a career .264/.322/.456 line when holding the platoon advantage.

While he continued to hit lefties at an above-average clip last season, Pinder slumped to a .218/.250/.341 triple-slash while fanning nearly a third of the time versus right-handed pitchers. That sizable limitation capped him at minor league offers over the winter.

Pinder first caught on with the Cincinnati Reds and spent spring raining in that organization, but slumped to a shriveled .103/.167/.154 line in exhibition play and did not end up making the team. Pinder then exercised an opt-out and quickly landed with Washington.

The change of setting did not help, as Pinder's offensive struggles continued with the Nats’ top affiliate in Rochester. In 16 games down in the minors this spring, Pinder hit .218/.308/.309. He walked at a quality 11.3 percent clip against a manageable 24.2 percent strikeout rate, but only managed three extra-base hits (a homer and two doubles) in 62 trips to the plate.