A’s place Chad Pinder on injured list, call up Jacob Wilson

The injuries are piling up in the Oakland A’s lineup.

The A’s announced Thursday morning that they’ve placed super-sub Chad Pinder on the 10-day injured list. The diagnosis is a strained right hamstring.

The injury occurred on the final play of Oakland’s loss to the Houston Astros on Saturday. With two outs in the 9th, Pinder hit a ground ball and was thrown out at first base, and on the way past the bag he grabbed the back of his leg and began limping. Within minutes the team reported the obvious, that he’d pulled his hammy and would miss time.

How much time? Manager Bob Melvin said the following, via Matt Kawahara of the S.F. Chronicle:

“It’s going to be a while. He’s had hamstring injuries before, this one’s in the middle of the hamstring. I mean these things are probably at least a month.”

Pinder already did one lengthy stint on the IL this summer, as he sprained his knee in the fourth game of the season and missed six weeks. Now he’ll sit out a while longer.

To replace him on the active roster, infielder Jacob Wilson was called up from Triple-A. Wilson was not on the 40-man roster, but there was already an open spot for him to take so no further moves were needed.

Note: We didn’t know there was an open spot, which can only mean that Mitch Moreland is on a version of the injured list that removes him from the 40-man, such as the 60-day or the COVID-related. The A’s never announced which IL he went on.

At age 30, with his 31st birthday coming in three weeks, this is Wilson’s first trip to the majors. He was drafted by the Cardinals in 2012 (10th round) and is now playing in his ninth minor league season, not counting the lost 2020 summer. His professional track record includes nearly 900 games and over 3,500 plate appearances, including some time spent overseas.

Here’s what we said about him during spring training, when he was a non-roster invitee on a minor league free agent contract:

Former Cardinals mid-round draft pick, which is always a promising start. Righty hit well up through Double-A before stalling out, but later crushed Triple-A Pacific Coast League in Nats system and hit decently in a short stint in Korea in late 2019, with plate discipline as strongest suit but also a bit of power. Versatile defender who’s spent bulk of time at 2B and 3B, still awaiting MLB debut at age 30. More (old) details from 2015.

Since then he spent the last couple months thriving in Las Vegas, the latest hitter to enjoy the notoriously friendly Triple-A West league.

• Wilson, 2021 AAA: .288/.385/.630, 137 wRC+, 14 HR, 11.9% BB, 19.7% Ks

That’s the second-most homers by anybody on the Aviators, led by only Frank Schwindel (16), who is already up in Oakland as well. Also notable is the low strikeout rate, which has been a consistent feature throughout Wilson’s career as he always makes lots of contact.

Assuming he gets into a game soon, Wilson will be one of the oldest players in Oakland history to make his MLB debut. At 30 years, 344 days entering this afternoon’s game, if he debuts today then he will exactly tie Webster Garrison down to the day (in 1996) for second place among position players, after only Gonzalo Marquez (32 years old in 1972). Four pitchers were older when they debuted, led by 36-year-old Keiichi Yabu.

Canha update

One more minor injury update, regarding the timetable for Mark Canha and his hip injury (strain/tendinitis). There had previously been hope that he might return this weekend before the All-Star break, but that is no longer the case. He will wait until after next week’s break to return from the IL, reports Kawahara.

Here’s the updated roster, with the injury report below.

Injury report:

• RHP Trevor Rosenthal, OUT FOR YEAR, entire body (thoracic outlet, hip labrum)
• RHP Mike Fiers, 60-day IL, elbow (no structural damage; shut down for July)
• UT Chad Pinder, 10-day IL, hamstring (likely out thru mid-Aug at least)
• DH Mitch Moreland, IL, undisclosed (likely out past All-Star break)
• OF Mark Canha, 10-day IL, hip (no structural damage; out thru All-Star break)
• 3B Matt Chapman, BACK IN ACTION, stomach flu (missed one game 7/7)