Veteran first baseman Matt Adams has introduced his retirement from baseball. The 36-year-old penned a prolonged farewell to the game he loves and thanked his teammates, coaches, clubhouse employees, followers and household in a press release you possibly can learn in full on Adams’ social media accounts (X hyperlink and Instagram hyperlink). Adams will signal a ceremonial one-day contract with the Cardinals subsequent week, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Submit-Dispatch, giving him the chance to retire as a member of the group that first chosen him within the twenty third spherical of the 2009 draft.
The 6’3″, 260-pound Adams made his large league debut simply three seasons after being drafted, getting a Could/June look throughout his age-23 season and hitting .244/.286/.384 in his first style of the majors. By 2013, he’d set up himself as a fixture within the Cardinals’ lineup, hitting .284/.335/.503 and popping 17 homers in simply 319 plate appearances. “Huge Metropolis” went on to supply strong offense in the midst of the order from 2013-17, hitting a mixed .272/.317/.473 with 73 homers, 97 doubles and 6 triples in 1762 plate appearances from ’13-’17.
After shifting Matt Carpenter to first base for the 2017 season, the Cardinals now not had common at-bats for Adams at first base, nonetheless. An early-season harm to Freddie Freeman in Atlanta created a possibility, and the Cardinals flipped Adams to the Braves in change for then-prospect Juan Yepez. Adams caught hearth in Atlanta, hitting so effectively early in his time there that Freeman even briefly moved throughout the diamond upon his return from the IL and performed 16 video games at third base as a way of holding each lefty sluggers within the lineup (previous to the NL’s implementation of the designated hitter).
Adams hit free company that offseason and signed with the Nationals on a one-year deal. He hit effectively because the Nats’ major first baseman (.257/.332/.510), and when the Nats wound up embarking on a late-August sell-off that 12 months, Adams discovered himself on the waiver wire, the place he was claimed — by the Cardinals. His return to St. Louis didn’t go in addition to his unique stint, nonetheless. He slashed simply .158/.200/.333 in 60 plate appearances over the season’s last six weeks.
Adams grew to become a free agent once more at season’s finish, and nearly one 12 months to the date of his unique cope with the Nationals, he re-signed in Washington on one other one-year contract in D.C. It was a fateful return, as though Adams hit solely .226 with a .276 on-base proportion, he offered a key supply of lefty energy and massive bat off the bench in what wound up being the Nationals’ Cinderella season. Adams belted 20 homers for supervisor Davey Martinez’s membership because the Nats launched into a near-unfathomable rebound from a 19-31 begin to win the 2019 World Collection.
That 2019 season marked the final by which Adams noticed even semi-regular motion within the majors. He returned to Atlanta for a quick spell in 2020, showing in 16 video games however struggling on the plate. He had a equally temporary run with the Rockies in 2021, logging 22 video games and once more discovering it tough to recapture his type. Adams spent the 2022 season with the Kansas Metropolis Monarchs of the impartial American Affiliation and returned to the Nationals group in 2023, although he spent all the 12 months with their Triple-A membership. He’s been taking part in with the Mexican League’s Toros de Tijuana this season (.272/.309/.491, 13 homers) however will now formally name it a profession simply two weeks after turning 36.
Adams doesn’t sound like somebody who plans to be away from baseball for lengthy. In his retirement assertion, he expressed an eagerness to journey down a brand new path inside the recreation.
“I’m excited to hunt out alternatives in teaching, the place I can proceed to contribute to the game I really like,” wrote Adams. “Over the previous few years, I’ve had the privilege of taking up a mentoring function as a veteran participant. By that have, I’ve discovered a brand new strategy to love the sport — one that permits me to share my data and assist information the subsequent era of athletes. That’s the route I’m desirous to discover. … I look ahead to the prospect to maintain competing and profitable, this time from a unique vantage level.”
Together with his taking part in days now formally within the rearview mirror, Adams will flip the web page on a profession that noticed him bat .258/.306/.463 in 2614 main league plate appearances. Alongside the way in which, he totaled 624 hits, together with 118 dwelling runs, 130 doubles and 6 triples. Adams scored 297 runs in his profession, plated 399 of them, and took part in three totally different postseasons (2013, 2014 and that 2019 World Collection season). He suited up for 4 main league groups and earned practically $15MM in wage whereas accruing greater than eight years of huge league service. Greatest needs to Matt as he takes the subsequent step in his baseball journey.
