Branden Henry Pinder (born January 26, 1989) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

in 2015 and 2016.

Career

Amateur and Minors

Pinder played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

Santa Ana College Santa Ana College is a public community college in Santa Ana, California. History In 1915, Santa Ana Junior College opened its doors to 25 students as a department of Santa Ana High School. It was the second community college founded in Orange ...

and

Long Beach State University California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

. He was drafted by the

in the 16th round of the

2011 Major League Baseball Draft The 2011 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2011, from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Gerrit Cole out of the University of California, Los Angeles, with the first ...

. He made his professional debut for the Staten Island Yankees that season. In 31 innings over 24 games, he was 2–2 with a 1.16

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA), 14 saves and 38 strikeouts. Pinder played 2012 with the

Tampa Yankees Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

and pitched in one game for the

Trenton Thunder The Trenton Thunder are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Trenton, New Jersey, and play their home games at Trenton Thunder Ballpark. From 1994 to 2020, it was a Minor League Baseball team of the Doub ...

. He was 2–6 with a 2.74 ERA, nine saves and 67 strikeouts in 69 innings. He played the 2013 season with Tampa and Trenton. He had a 2–3 record, 4.42 ERA, six saves and 72 strikeouts in innings. Pinder started the 2014 season back with Trenton. After recording a 0.56 ERA through 16 innings to start the season, he was promoted to the

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (often abbreviated to SWB RailRiders) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Moosic, Pen ...

New York Yankees

On April 15, 2015, Pinder made his major league debut against the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

, going one inning and allowing one hit in a 7-5 loss. He was optioned to Triple-A on April 21 in exchange for

Chasen Shreve Chasen Dean Shreve (born July 12, 1990) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He made his MLB debut in 2014 with the Atlanta Braves and he has also played in MLB for the New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals ...

. He was recalled on May 9 after Chris Martin was placed on the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

. He was sent back down on May 24 to make room for

Jacob Lindgren Jacob Stephen Lindgren (born March 12, 1993) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees in 2015. He played college baseball for Mississippi State University. Amateur car ...

. On June 19, Pinder was called up yet again after Martin was optioned to triple-A. On August 30, Pinder collected his first major league hit, an RBI double, off

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

pitcher

Jake Brigham Jacob Daniel Brigham (born February 10, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Wei Chuan Dragons of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut in 2015 with the Atlanta Braves ...

. It would be the only at-bat of his career, giving him a career batting average of 1.000. He finished the 2015 season by making 25 relief appearances with an 0-2 record and a 2.93 ERA. On April 22, 2016, Pinder was placed on the 15-day disabled list due to a right elbow strain. The next day on April 23, an MRI revealed that there was a partially torn UCL in the right elbow. After seeking a second opinion with Dr. James Andrews, Pinder decided to forgo the rest of the 2016 season as he chose to have

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's bo ...

. On November 8, Pinder was designated for assignment. On July 21, 2017, he was released from the Yankees organization.

Los Angeles Angels

The Los Angeles Angels signed Pinder on August 4, 2017. He was released on June 18, 2018.

Long Island Ducks

On June 25, 2018, Pinder signed with the

Long Island Ducks The Long Island Ducks are an American professional minor-league baseball team based on Long Island in Central Islip, New York. The Ducks compete in the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB), an independent "partne ...

of the

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league based in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The Atlantic League's ...

. He announced his retirement on July 23, 2018.

References

External links

Long Beach State 49ers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinder, Branden 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Corona, California Baseball players from California Major League Baseball pitchers New York Yankees players Santa Ana Dons baseball players Long Beach State Dirtbags baseball players Long Island Ducks players Staten Island Yankees players Tampa Yankees players Trenton Thunder players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders players