Chad Pinder retired less than three years ago from a professional baseball career highlighted by seven seasons with the Oakland A’s. He’s already a step away from returning to the major leagues — this time as a manager.
Pinder, a 33-year-old Poquoson High and Virginia Tech graduate, was named on Thursday as manager of the Charlotte Knights, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and a competitor of the Norfolk Tides in the International League.
It continues a meteoric rise for Pinder, whose managerial debut came this past season with the White Sox’s Single-A Carolina League affiliate in nearby Kannapolis, North Carolina. Securing a managing job in professional baseball with no coaching experience is a rarity, so Pinder’s quick promotion confirmed the value the White Sox place in him.
“It’s just one of those things you don’t expect to happen,” Pinder told the Daily Press and Virginian-Pilot on Friday. “You go into it, at least personally, with an open mind that like `Hey, wherever I am I’m going to do my very best to serve and help the players, be available and at least pass on some of the knowledge I accumulated.’
“There’s got to be a better word than `surprised.’ The emotions are surprise, excitement, I can’t believe this is happening, and gratitude for them to trust me at this level.”
Pinder earned that trust first managing the comparatively young players in Kannapolis. The Cannon Ballers went 64-68 but won 11 of their final 14 games in a season where Pinder felt he learned lots through successes and mistakes.
He followed by working with some of the White Sox organization’s older players in the Fall League in Arizona. Soon thereafter he interviewed for the Charlotte job and believes he got it because he’s “on the same page” with others in the organization.
“It’s not about me and not about the staff,” Pinder said, while adding that the White Sox have provided him with “an incredibly knowledgeable staff” to guide Charlotte. “It’s about the players and what we’re doing for the organization to put them in great situations to grow.
“I put that at the forefront, and I think the players see that we’re just trying to create an environment where the guys come to work every single day, have an opportunity to put their best foot forward and play free.”
Pinder says he’s taken a little bit from each of the men who have guided him on the road to Charlotte. That started with Kenny Bennett, his coach on Poquoson High’s 2009-10 Group AA state championship teams.
“He loved the game, loved his players and did things the right way,” Pinder said.
He said that he loved playing for Pete Hughes at Virginia Tech, where he was All-ACC, because “He was such a competitor and players always want to know a coach is in the fight with them.”
Drafted in the second round by the A’s in 2013, Pinder played professionally for 11 seasons. During his seven MLB seasons in Oakland he batted .242 with 62 home runs and 197 RBIs as the ultimate utility man — playing every position (even pitching an inning) except catcher.
The A’s made the playoffs three times during his years in Oakland. He said his managers there, Bob Melvin and Mark Kotsay, are huge influences on his managing style because they were “steady” whether he was batting .150 or .300.
“To have somebody in your corner who believes in you, no matter what the outcome is, that’s the type of manager I wanted to play for,” Pinder said. “Those are the guys who `get it.’
“They know how hard it is to be a baseball player in a game where, the majority of the time you’re getting kicked down and you have to find a way to get back. You gravitate toward that kind of manager because the conversations are always the same.”
Also unchanging is Pinder’s address.
He has lived for years in Charlotte with wife Taylor, son CJ, 5, and daughter Camden, 3. He feels “blessed” that he’ll get to spend so much time with them in this latest chapter of his career.
“I know this does not happen often in this game with the lifestyle of professional baseball,” he said. “I’m extremely fortunate and humbled and grateful for this.
“I know my wife is, too.”