The Tampa Bay Times reports that Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier will retire from MLB after this season. The four-time Gold Glover has had a down year in 2024. Going into today’s game against his former team, the Tampa Bay Rays, he has a .195 batting average, four home runs, and 18 RBI.
Blue Jay, former #Rays star Kevin Kiermaier to retire after season https://t.co/1mYjdHbrCN
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) July 24, 2024
Blue Jays’ Kevin Kiermaier Planning to Retire After this Season
This season has not turned out for Kiermaier as planned. The four-time Gold Glover was excited to rejoin the Blue Jays when they re-signed him to a one-year, $10.5 million contract. But this season has unfortunately been worse than last season. The Blue Jays are 10 games below .500 and in last place in the AL East. They also tried to do right by Kiermaier by placing him on waivers. Toronto was hoping that another team would pick him up and give him a chance at being with a contending team. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out, and he cleared waivers and remained with the Blue Jays.
As a result, it is no surprise that Kiermaier is planning to retire. While he isn’t at the age (34) where he is too old and needs to retire, his game has slowed down. The Blue Jays hoped to get more out of Kiermaier offensively, but this season, he’s struck out quite a bit at the plate. He earned his fourth Gold Glove last season for his dynamic and solid work defensively. Kiermaier, throughout his career, has been stupendous in center field, and his skillset hasn’t gone unrecognized.
For this reason, Kiermaier evidently feels he’s reached a point in his career when it’s time to say farewell. He has had an impressive baseball career and gained plenty of accolades for his stout defense. His most memorable and strongest years were with the Tampa Bay Rays, spending his first nine seasons with them. He provided plenty of defensive gems down in St. Pete, winning three Gold Glove Awards in his time there. But Kiermaier has certainly had memorable moments with the Blue Jays as well. Last season, he injured himself by making a fantastic catch in center field, scraping his elbow and showing his fearlessness in the process.
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