In a surprising development, veteran right-hander Jason Hammel has told the Rangers that he is retiring after 13 Major League seasons. Hammel had signed a minor league deal with the Rangers this winter, and was informed yesterday that he had made the team’s Opening Day roster.
Hammel’s decision doesn’t come entirely out of left field, as he recently stated that he had no interest in pitching in the minor leagues, and would hang up his spikes if he didn’t remain in the Show. As per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link), Hammel simply “decided he needed to go and be with his family, something you could tell was weighing on his mind this spring.”
Rangers GM Jon Daniels told The Athletic’s Levi Weaver and other media that Hammel “was very apologetic about the timing” of his decision, coming so soon after the team decided to include him on its 25-man roster. With Hammel now out of the picture, Jeanmar Gomez (another minor league signing) will break camp with the team.
Originally a 10th-round pick for the Rays in the 2002 draft, Hammel rose from that unheralded draft position to pitch 1810 1/3 Major League innings from 2006-18, starting 298 of his 377 career games. Never a big strikeout pitcher or a particularly hard thrower, Hammel relied on solid control and durability to become a rotation piece for six different teams over the course of his career.
That skillset resulted in just shy of $60MM in career earnings for Hammel, including a pair of multi-year free agent deals with the Cubs and Royals. Hammel’s stint with the Cubs from 2014-16 was the productive stint of his career, as he posted a 3.59 ERA, 8.5 K/9, and a 3.62 K/9 rate over 446 innings (all of them in 78 starts) for Chicago. Unfortunately for Hammel, a late-season elbow injury kept him from participating in the Cubs’ historic playoff run in 2016, though his 166 2/3 frames of 3.83 ERA pitching in the regular season netted him a well-earned World Series ring.
We at MLBTR congratulate Hammel on a fine career, and we wish him all the best as he embarks on his post-playing endeavors.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Odd
Interesting…
What the
huh?
Must be family related
Evidently, he has higher standards than the Rangers.
Lol
He could feel played out by the end of ST, no longer physically able to take on a season.
He probably felt that he was done and that he can’t perform at a good enough level anymore. I respect that
to be honest, he’d probably have been the most durable potential SP the Rangers would end up having
Well, that escalated quickly.
In a surprising development , 36 year old pitcher with 14 losses and a 6+ ERA in 2018 is retiring .
Old news is not surprising.
Making the Opening Day roster, then pulling the plug? That is
Dude just realized he doesn’t have it anymore I’m guessing . Plain and simple . Now if Justin Verlander retires at 36, I’ll be surprised .
everyone would be as he is 37
Where are you getting that he’s 37 from ? He won’t be 37 til next February . Look up your facts first
It’s a Chicago fan…. what do you expect? They’re more lost than God knows what
Kick rocks
Only the North side
Learned he was being assigned to the Texas Rangers, and retired because he didn’t want to play on a minor league team. Lol
Two good ones Stymee…lol again
Maybe he just wanted to see if he could still make an OD roster?
I read an article about him and Forsythe making the team seconds before seeing this.
He probably changed his mind about willing to be in the bullpen.
That’s weird
He wanted to be in the rotation and Rangers were going to put him in the bullpen for the time being.
“The veteran right-hander, informed Friday morning that he would be on the Rangers’ Opening Day roster, told general manager Jon Daniels that his desire to spend time with his family had surpassed his desired to keep playing baseball.”
Playing in 100 degree heat for a bad team. I wouldn’t want to pitch either. Especially out of the pen, if that is what the plan was.
I wouldn’t want to be in the Rangers’ bullpen either
You mean to tell me that you’d turn down a contract to pitch long relief for the Rangers in order to continue on as a sandwich artist for your local Subway? I find that hard to believe.
Leury Garcia’s HR off of him in his last spring outing was the final straw!
Best of luck on your retirement, Jason!
Thanks for everything you did as a Cub!
Would you want to prolong your long career with a team equivalent to AAA talent. No thanks, and goodbye.
You do understand that he willingly signed a contract with them, right? He wasn’t traded there against his wishes.
This makes absolutely no sense. He made the team and then decided to retire? Why?
Asked the person who apparently didn’t read the whole article..
He saw the hole in the bottom of the boat known as the “ Rangers” and got a life jacket and life raft before it sinks to the bottom.
The wife put the kabosh on the season.
That will come out in the next two weeks.
To bad he didn’t get to go to Houston and have a magical renewal of his career.
Like Carlos Gomez?
If I’d made $33K an inning over 13 years of mostly mediocre pitching, I’d get out while I was ahead, too.