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Nate Orf

A’s Place Chad Pinder On Injured List

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SEPTEMBER 15: Pinder’s done for the regular season with a Grade 1 hamstring strain, but the A’s are hopeful he’ll be ready for the playoffs, Slusser tweets.

SEPTEMBER 13: Pinder has been formally placed on the IL, the A’s announced. Orf’s contract was selected in a corresponding roster move.

SEPTEMBER 12: The Athletics made Chad Pinder a late scratch from the second game of tonight’s doubleheader with the Rangers, and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Pinder is likely headed to the 10-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain.  A’s manager Bob Melvin confirmed the news to Slusser and other reporters this evening,

Losing a versatile bench piece like Pinder isn’t good in any circumstance, though losing him now is particularly inopportune for the A’s since Matt Chapman’s season was just ended by hip surgery.  The A’s are now without both an All-Star third baseman and their top backup infielder, who likely would have been in line for a lot of work at the hot corner with Chapman gone.

Rookie Vimael Machin started third base in tonight’s nightcap, and as Slusser notes, new acquisition Tommy La Stella also has quite a bit of third base experience.  Oakland picked up La Stella as a second base upgrade, but La Stella could now conceivably slide over to play third base every day, while Tony Kemp and Machin could handle second.  Noted prospect Sheldon Neuse could also be called up to play either second or third, and in the event of a second base platoon, the right-handed hitting Neuse is a more logical fit for a platoon with Kemp than Machin, as both Kemp and Machin are left-handed batters.

Eric Campbell and Nate Orf are the only other infielders with MLB experience at the Athletics’ alternate training site, and either would have to be added to the 40-man roster to be called up.  The A’s have an open 40-man spot already, plus Chapman or A.J. Puk (who will undergo shoulder surgery) could be moved to the 60-day IL to remove them from the 40-man and create more space for further additions, be they internal promotions or external signings.

Pinder took a .231/.286/.404 slash line into today’s play, with the utilityman also adding two homers over his 56 plate appearances.  Now in his fifth season in Oakland, Pinder has contributed near-league average offensive production (a career .244/.302/.431 slash line that has resulted in a 98 wRC+ and 98 OPS+) while also playing all over the diamond at every position except pitcher and catcher.

A’s Announce Various Minor-League Signings

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The A’s announced a spate of minor-league signings this afternoon, some of which were previously reported by Susan Slusser and Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. On the pitching side, the club brought aboard left-hander Lucas Luetge and right-handers Ian Gardeck, Zach Lee, and Brian Schlitter. They confirmed the earlier-reported signing of Jaime Schultz. Oakland also added depth on the position player side, signing catcher Carlos Pérez, and infielders Eric Campbell, Nate Orf and Ryan Goins. All nine players will receive an invitation to MLB camp in spring training.

Of those players, only Gardeck doesn’t have some MLB experience. The former Giants’ farmhand tossed 18.2 relief innings with a 2.41 ERA last season for Tampa Bay’s AA affiliate in Montgomery. Campbell and Schlitter spent last season in the A’s organization, with Schlitter pitching in six MLB games for Oakland.

Except for Schlitter, only Goins reached the game’s highest level in 2019, his seventh straight year logging MLB action. The former Blue Jay took 163 plate appearances for the White Sox and slashed .250/.333/.347. That tops the .230/.279/.335 (65 wRC+) line the infielder has accumulated over his career. He, Campbell, and Orf, a former Brewers’ prospect, could all vie for a utility role this spring.

Brewers Outright Nate Orf & Ariel Hernandez, Sign Emilio Bonifacio

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The Brewers announced that utilityman Nate Orf and righty Ariel Hernandez were each outrighted to Triple-A after clearing wavers. The move on Orf will open a 40-man spot for today’s acquisition of Xavier Cedeno; Hernandez had recently been designated for assignment.

In other news, the Milwaukee organization has added veteran utilityman Emilio Bonifacio. He had been playing on the indy ball circuit after failing to land with an affiliated organization this spring and will now head to Triple-A Colorado Springs.

Orf, 28, earned a brief first look at the majors this year after two consecutive quality seasons at the Triple-A level. He’s a .305/.389/.447 hitter in 1,344 career plate appearances at the highest level of the minors, with only 17 home runs but a healthy combination of 134 walks against 190 strikeouts. Clearly, though — given that he cleared waivers — there are some questions as to whether Orf will really ever be able to carry that sort of output into the show.

As for Bonifacio, the signing offers a chance for him to extend his streak of eleven-straight seasons with at least some MLB action. He hasn’t seen much time in any of the past three campaigns, producing a cringeworthy .169/.204/.201 batting line in the 169 plate appearances he has received in that span. But Bonifacio has been at least a passable hitter at times in the past and was producing a strong .842 OPS in the Atlantic League. More importantly, he has long rated as an outstanding baserunner and can play just about anywhere on the diamond. That makes him a flexible asset for the Brewers to have on hand in case a need arises.

Brewers Select Nate Orf, Move Nick Franklin To 60-Day DL

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The Brewers announced that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Nate Orf from Triple-A Colorado Springs and optioned right-hander Aaron Wilkerson to Triple-A in his place. In order to open a spot for Orf on the 40-man roster, infielder/outfielder Nick Franklin was transferred from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL.

It’ll be the first call to the Majors for Orf, a 28-year-old career-long Brewers farmhand whom they signed as an undrafted free agent back in 2013. He’s enjoying his best season yet in the minors, hitting .307/.412/.463 with six homers and 20 steals (in 21 attempts). Orf has never shown much power prior to this season, but he’s already just three homers away from his career-best mark of nine. He’s also never been this aggressive on the basepaths, but the speed and efficiency he’s displayed so far can only have helped his cause in reaching the big leagues.

Orf has moved all over the diamond throughout his career, logging time at second base, third base, shortstop and in all three outfield spots. While second and third have been his two primary positions, he’s spent more time at second and shortstop than at third base so far in 2018. Milwaukee has received little in the way of production from its second basemen (.252/.299/.377) or especially its shortstops (.193/.243/.297), and they could reasonably look to Orf as an option at either spot. For now, it seems likelier that he’ll get more action at shortstop, given that Orlando Arcia was recently optioned to Triple-A for a second time in 2018.

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