Veteran Royals infielder Clint Barmes has decided to hang up his spikes after a 13-year MLB career. He was officially released by the Royals today, and tells Jessica Kleinschmidt of Fan Duel that he made the final decision to retire in the middle of a recent ballgame.
Barmes had been with Triple-A Omaha on a minor league pact, which he signed after K.C. released him from a prior deal with the club late this spring. He had scuffled to a .204/.255/.306 batting line in his 107 plate appearances.
Of course, the defensive specialist was never terribly productive with the bat, even in his prime, yet nevertheless managed to compile some strong seasons. At his best, Barmes delivered significantly above-average glovework and contributed solid baserunning while putting up offensive marks just under the league average.
Barmes had his best overall season in 2011 with the Astros, when he racked up 2.8 fWAR and 3.2 rWAR with highly-rated fielding and a .244/.312/.386 slash. That was his only season in Houston, and it came between lengthier stints with the Rockies (2003 through 2010) and the Pirates (2012 through 2014). Barmes last saw big league action last year with the Padres, playing in 98 games in a platoon role.
All told, the Fangraphs version of wins above replacement is stingier in valuing Barmes for his career, crediting him with 9.2 wins, as UZR was less bullish on his fielding than was Defensive Runs Saved. According to the Baseball-Reference tabulation, though, he was worth 15.4 WAR in the final tabulation.
Barmes says that he made every effort to return to the majors and feels comfortable with how things wrapped up. “Coming back I think I decided I would give Triple-A a little time to help make my decision easier for me as far as having no regrets when I do make that decision,” he said. “At this point I can honestly say I can look back and know I don’t have any regrets.”
MLBTR offers its congratulations and best wishes to t
Didn’t he once get injured for tripping over a gift of deer meat or something similarly funny?
Yep. I believe it was from Todd Helton.
Always gotta love a funny injury story.
That said, I do remember the guy was a breakout story once. Sorry to hear he’s gone, I wish him only the best in the future,
Yeah, he was carrying part of a deer carcass down some stairs and fell and broke his ankle or something similar.
Never much of a player, except defensively, but good for him. He retires with career earnings of 24 million dollars, which isn’t bad scratch for a very limited role player.
It was his collarbone.
Never much of a player? How about you step in and try to hit a 90 mph fastball?
Do you have any idea at all as to what it takes to not just make it to the major leagues, but to play at that level for 10 years or more?
I doubt it.
Your logic is flawed.
Just because your average non-athlete might not succeed at hitting a 90 MPH fastball doesn’t automatically make every major leaguer a great player.
Anybody who has played in MLB is better than 99.9% of all people who have played organized baseball
Yeah, carrying deer meat from Todd Helton up the stairs and falling down and missing the rest of the season, or something like that.
Yeah, breaking a collarbone and missing a good chunk of your freshman season is a real hoot..
You go down to the cancer ward to get your jollies do you?
It is a funny story since he still lasted in the big leagues for over a decade. However, that deer carcass almost definitely cost him the Rookie of the Year award. He was the best rookie in the NL up to that point (I think late July) Ryan Howard ended up winning it, but he wasn’t unbeatable that year.
Happy trails Clint. Good ballplayer, good dude. Probably has a future as a coach if he wants it.
His mentoring of Jordy Mercer in Pittsburgh will be remembered and also what a guy and pro. Good luck Clint, you’d make a great coach if that appealed to you.
class act. wasn’t it last year at pnc, they played his music don’t stop believing? he looked so puzzled and got a standing ovation….on the road at pnc. he was a great fielder for the bucs and played hard. good luck
Man, sad to see him go. Good luck Clint!