While Spring Training is a chance for a fresh start for all Major League Baseball players, one longtime veteran has decided to hang up his cleats for good.
Two-time All-Star Jason Kipnis announced his retirement from baseball on Monday. Kipnis didn’t play in 2022 after he was sent to the minors by the Atlanta Braves in 2021.
Kipnis announced the decision himself on social media with a long message thanking his teammates and fans.
“I’d be lying if I said I wanted to write this. To have to officially acknowledge that my time as a player in the game of baseball is over… My mind and body just aren’t up for the commitment anymore. Frustrating at first, but there’s only one feeling I’m left with that stands out above all… Gratitude,” Kipnis wrote on Twitter.
Thank you baseball. @MLB pic.twitter.com/GpR5XuibvC
— Jason Kipnis (@TheJK_Kid) February 20, 2023
Kipnis made his MLB debut in 2011 with the Cleveland Guardians but didn’t become a full-time Major League player until the 2012 season. In his third season in the big leagues, he became an All-Star and even received some votes for MVP. He ended up making the All-Star Game again in 2015. In 2016, he helped Cleveland make it to the World Series for the first time in a decade. Kipnis hit four home runs, drove in nine runs, and scored eight RBIs during that postseason run.
