Before the Oakland A’s Opening Day game on Thursday, I wrote about Chad Pinder being a potential breakout candidate in 2021.
The case is based around his offense, which had shown underlying signs of encouragement over the years before he exploded at the plate last October and again this spring. And indeed, he went 2-for-4 in the season opener, with one particularly sharp single and also a fairly loud out. Good start!
But the real highlight on Thursday, not just by Pinder but for the A’s team as a whole in their quiet 8-1 loss to the Houston Astros, was his work on defense.