Kyle Seager’s Surprising Retirement
When the 2021 season ended, there seemed to be a number of possibilities for the future of Kyle Seager. He was not likely to return to the Seattle Mariners, the only team he’d known since being drafted out of the *University of North Carolina in the 3rd round of the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft. The Mariners could have exercised their $20 million team option on Seager, but chose the $2 million buyout instead, allowing Seager to become a free agent.
*He retires as the all-time leader in Baseball-Reference WAR for draft picks from UNC, finishing with 36.9 WAR, one good season ahead of B.J. Surhoff, at 34.4.
It seemed likely Seager would find a home elsewhere, especially after the Texas Rangers signed his brother Corey Seager. Rangers fans could envision Kyle joining him on the left side of the infield in Arlington, with the two of them perhaps combining for 55 to 60 homers next season.
If not Texas, surely some other team would want him after he hit 35 homers and drove in 101 runs last year, albeit with a very sub-par .285 on-base percentage. MLB trade rumors projected a two-year deal at $24 million for the soon-to-be 34-year-old free agent. They also had 33-year-old third baseman Eduardo Escobar projected for a 2-year, $20 million deal, which proved to be a spot-on projection when the Mets signed Escobar to those exact terms.
Instead, Seager has retired. His wife Julie tweeted “A note from my husband” on Wednesday morning that read: “Today I’m announcing my retirement from Major League Baseball. Thank you to all of my family, friends and fans for following me throughout my career. It’s been a wonderful ride but I am unbelievably excited for the next chapter of my life.”
It didn’t take long for MLB Sabermetrician/historian/stathead nerd (her words) Jessica Brand to tweet about Seager’s retirement with this interesting fact: Not counting others this past season: With 35 home runs in 2021, #Mariners Kyle Seager ties for the second most dingers in the final season of a player’s career, alongside Oakland’s Dave Kingman in 1986. The all-time leader is Boston’s David Ortiz 38 in 2016.
Players generally don’t hit 35 home runs, then retire. Especially at Seager’s age. Kingman was 37 in his final season. David Ortiz was 40 years old when he hit 38 homers in his final season, which was one of the greatest final seasons offensively in MLB history. Only one player had a higher wRC+ in their final season than Ortiz (minimum 400 plate appearances) and that was Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was banned from baseball as part of the Black Sox Scandal.
Number three on this list is Barry Bonds, who was essentially blackballed by MLB teams after posting a 157 wRC+ in his final year. Will Clark had a terrific final season at age 36, then walked away. Mickey Mantle’s .237/.385/.398 batting line doesn’t look very good on the surface, but that was in 1968, “The Year of the Pitcher.” American Leaguers that year hit .230/.297/.339, so Mantle was above average in all three ratio stats (and significantly above average in on-base percentage).
Seager didn’t hit nearly as well in his final season as the above players hit in their final seasons, but he did reach some marks that placed him among the leaders in three categories for players who had their final season at age 33 or younger:
Plate appearances
700—Tony Lupien, 1948, age 31
695—Joey Cora, 1998, age 33
670—Kyle Seager, 2021, age 33
- Tony Lupien played his final season in the major leagues with the White Sox in 1948, getting 700 plate appearances but with a well below-average 75 wRC+. He played in Triple-A the following year, then spent another four years at the Class D level as a player-manager and general manager. After his playing days were over, he was the coach at Dartmouth College for 21 seasons. In 1980, he co-wrote a book with Lee Lowenfish about baseball’s labor issues called The Imperfect Diamond. He was also the grandfather of wrestler/actor John Cena.
- A few years after being a fan favorite on the Seattle Mariners 1995 team, Cora finished his career playing the first five months of the 1998 season for Seattle and the last month for Cleveland after a trade for David Bell. His final season wRC+ was 94, but he has the second-most plate appearances ever for a player whose last season was age 33 or younger.
Home runs
35—Kyle Seager, 2021, age 33
25—Evan Gattis, 2018, age 31
24—Yasiel Puig, 2019, age 28
- Gattis’ final season was similar offensively to Seager. They both had a 99 wRC+ and their triple-slash lines had the same shape: Gattis hit .226/.284/.452, Seager hit .212/.285/.438. The biggest difference between the two was their defense. Seager was still a competent fielder last year, while Gattis was terrible, which explains the difference in their final season WAR totals (per Baseball-Reference)—Seager at 2.0, Gattis at 0.2.
- Puig’s 24 homers and .267/.327/.458 triple-slash while playing for Cincinnati and Cleveland in 2019 was good for a league average 100 wRC+. He started the year with Cincinnati, then was traded to Cleveland as part of a three-team deal that resulted in Trevor Bauer going to the Reds. Coincidentally, after not playing during the shortened 2020 season, Puig signed with Bauer’s agent Rachel Luba (their agent-client relationship has since been terminated). He played 62 games with El Águila de Veracruz of the Mexican League in 2021. In October of 2021, he settled a sexual assault lawsuit stemming from an incident in 2018. In December of 2021, it was reported that he had two previous settlements with women who accused him of sexual assault. He recently signed a contract with the Kiwoom Heroes of the KBO League, which is the same team that signed Addison Russell in 2020 after Russell was suspended 40 games for violating the MLB Domestic Violence Abuse Policy in 2019.
RBI
121—Shoeless Joe Jackson, 1920, age 32
115—Happy Felsch, 1920, age 28
103—Albert Belle, 2000, age 33
101—Kyle Seager, 2021, age 33
- The top two guys on this list were two of the eight Chicago White Sox players who were banned for life by commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis for their participation in throwing the 1919 World Series.
- Albert Belle had 103 RBI in his final season, but he wasn’t the hitter he had once been. His 104 wRC+ was his lowest mark as a regular in his career. He was expected to be back on the field for the Baltimore Orioles in 2001, but a degenerative hip condition ended his time in the big leagues. His career 139 wRC+ puts him in the company of such hitters as Larry Walker (140 wRC+), David Ortiz (140 wRC+), and Reggie Jackson (139 wRC+).
Seager’s retirement comes after he accomplished something that’s rarely been done in major league history. Since 1901, there have been 739 seasons in which a player hit 35 or more home runs. In just six of those seasons the player with 35 or more home runs had a below average wRC+. Seager just had one of those six seasons, putting him in the company of the following players:
As mentioned above, with his nearly league average offense and above average defense, Seager was worth 2.0 WAR in 2021. He finishes his career ranked fifth on the Mariners all-time list for WAR by position players, behind Ken Griffey Jr. (70.6), Edgar Martinez (68.4), Ichiro (56.4), and Alex Rodriguez (38.1). He also ranks in the top five in numerous hitting categories, including games played, hits, doubles, home runs, runs scored, RBI, and total bases.
The Mariners hypothetical Mount Rushmore of Position Players (no pitchers included on this one) would definitely include Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, and Ichiro. Even though A-Rod had more WAR as a Mariner, I think most fans would put Seager up there in the fourth spot for his longevity and dependability. He had eight seasons in which he played at least 150 games for the Mariners. Only Ichiro had more (10). Those who have held on to their Kyle Seager baseball cards will be happy with what the outcomes.
