Veteran catcher Jonathan Lucroy is set to officially announce his retirement Saturday as part of a ceremony at American Family Field, reports Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A third-round pick by the Brewers out of Louisiana-Lafayette in 2007, the backstop, who spent the first half of his twelve-year career in Milwaukee, will be inducted into the club’s Wall of Honor alongside former teammate Ryan Braun.
Arguably the most accomplished catcher of the 2010s not named Buster Posey or Yadier Molina, Lucroy’s best years — including a fourth-place MVP finish (and 8.2 fWAR) in 2014 — came with the Brewers, but he remained a serviceable option behind the plate for several years to come following a deadline trade to the Rangers in 2016. His production did dip considerably thereafter, however, and he became something of a journeyman in his 30s, playing for the Rockies, A’s, Angels, Cubs, Red Sox, Nationals, and Braves. He sported a robust .284/.343/.442 batting line across his first seven seasons — all but the last two months of 2016 in Milwaukee — but a comparatively paltry .248/.315/.350 thereafter. His once-elite defensive acumen also declined precipitously in the latter half of his career; after accruing 95 defensive runs saved between 2010 and 2016, he cost his teams 42 runs thereafter per the Fielding Bible metric.
For his career, Lucroy logged a more-than-respectable .274/.335/.416 triple-slash, a particularly strong output given the comparatively anemic production at his position across the majors. While he’s unlikely to receive any serious Hall of Fame consideration, the long-time Brewer can hang his hat on an excellent career that included two All-Star selections (in 2014 and 2016), 37 career fWAR, and four playoff appearances, including a 2011 NLCS run with the Brewers.
Respectable career
Honor for Lucroy. Braun doesn’t deserve it.
Yeah, Braun’s stats mean nothing essentially but he still had the audacity to accept the MVP award even though he took steroids. Tried to then shift the blame away from himself. What a guy!
@yanks how about A-rod? True saint right there huh?
Yep. I never liked A Rod, he’s another fraud as well. Same as Robbie Cano however I always liked Cano until I found out he got busted for PEDs…twice.
Hummmm who was the guy that just got into the Hall of Fame that tested positive? All a joke!
Hummm who was the guy that just got into the Hall of Fame and tested positive? All a joke!
I’ve heard conflicting stories on whether or not Ortiz actually took PEDs. Is there actually proof?
Steroids don’t make you a good ball player
No, they make good players great. And in the case of guys like Bonds and Clemens, great players into all-timers.
They can’t help you hit a baseball but they sure can help you recover faster, strengthen easier, stay healthier, push you past your previous limits, or fend off father time for a little longer.
Dude cost Aaron Rodgers a year of his salary
@Yanks2 Think he was one of those who tested positive in ‘03 when they did the sample tests before they started cracking down.
Really? Damn, we should do a fundraiser for the poor guy.
I agree, and I’d like to thank Lucroy for his contributions in a Red Sox uniform. He had a memorable tenure in Boston.
The Ortiz PED issue is a joke. He was part of the volunteer group who all submitted samples when they were thinking about adding the PED penalties to the CBA. He and 150 others showed up on a list of failing that volunteer sample process. They never told any of them what they tested positive for; it could have easily been an over the counter GNC supplement. Ortiz pushed back hard but they would never tell him what he tested positive for. The biggest thing to remember is that once PED penalties were in place, Papi never failed one test even though he was tested 100’s of times. I don’t consider him a cheat or a PED user as he had a clean career from that point on (when he did most of his damage). If he took PEDs, he wouldn’t have missed all the time he did with nagging injuries and his body would have looked a lot different too.
Congrats on a great career. One of my favorite catchers to watch during his years.
To go out with a World Series ring in 2021 is a pretty good plan.
Outstanding catchers don’t grow on trees. For 5 seasons he was outstanding.
Wait. Did he actually get a ring?…
almost certainly, yes.
at this point, if you’re on the roster for even a few days, they issue you a ring.
back in the day, not always the case (mets didn’t issue one for 4 players on the 86 team, for example, though terry leach ended up getting his because randy myers not only went to bat for him, but called the mets bluff when they said they’d do it, but only if randy, who was making rookie minimum at the time, would pay for half of it, as in $5000.).
I hope the Mets as an organization righted that wrong and repaid Myers at some point. If not they should send him the money with 20% annual interest on the debt. I get they were stingy, but someone should show both guys some respect after that, however long after that.
In 2004 after the Red Sox won the World Series they had a player vote to determine if Nomar Garciaparra should get a ring, the players voted “yes” so even though Nomar quit the team which subsequently led to his being traded the player looked beyond that to what he did for the organization Over the course of his time there.
Waited til the deadline passed just in case the Brewers wanted a 4th catcher, not realizing they were only adding bullpen arms.
Next stop: minor league hitting instructor for a franchise that actually tries teaching something besides launch angle and exit velocity.
Translation: NOT Milwaukee.
That’s the vast majority of clubs these days.
Sadly all clubs do that. Hitting is no longer taught.
6 years he was great. Every year after he was terrible. Have no idea what happened that he went from all-star to journeyman backup over night.
He aged into his early thirties and quickly declined. Incredibly common. Not sure why fans are always surprised and baffled by this.
Cleveland legend
I was going to bring that up! Forever hated in CLE. Hammy was talking about that last night how Ray Fosse said the best thing that ever happened to CLE was him rejecting the trade.
Trying to steal the show from the trade deadline. It almost worked too if it wasn’t for the soto trade
Not wildly good numbers but I guess for a catcher ok???
What? If you don’t think that’s great for a catcher you must not look at average slash lines of catchers as a whole the past say 10 seasons.
Congratulations. Still sad he was a bust in Texas.
Red Sox sign Lucroy for $100,000 in 2020 for 1 ab worst sogning signing ever
Red Sox sign Lucroy for 100,000 in 2020 for 1 ab worst signing ever
Landt143 – Not even close…Jed Lowrie with the Mets – 2 years – $20,000,000 – 7 at bats – 0 hits – 1 walk.
I thought he did that before?
Congrats to Lucroy on a great career.
The list of “most accomplished catchers of the 2010s” would have to include Salvador Perez.
remember when he turned down the indians and they went to the WS.
Nice career for sure. Funny coincidence that he’s announcing his retirement just weeks after the player (Steven Souza Jr.) drafted one spot ahead of him too.
Salvador Perez ws mvp 5 gold gloves like 8 all star games pretty sure he’s up there
Throw in Russell Martin and Brian McCann while you’re at it.
Yeah…certainly Buster and Yadi are the guys but Salvy would be 3rd on that list.
Statistically, Perez isn’t even close lmao.
He had exactly 10.0 fWAR from 2011-2019, which puts him at 26th among catchers in the decade (2010-2019). David Ross put up more than that in 2500 less PA from 2010-2016 lol.
Nobody cares about some slanted saber metric ..how many catchers were World Series mvps and had the accomplishments salvy had during the decade ..none
Slanted stat ? What does that even mean? / = slanted? Or biased?
Don’t retire so fast giants always adding catchers
Did he get his pension or not? He was a guy that needed 10 more at bats or something like that
I’m sure the Brewers would’ve found a way if he was not fully vested.
Thank You JL from a true blue Brewer Fan! Also, coregulations for finishing your degree in Education!
I remember he turned down a 3 year/$21 million deal from the Rockies in 2018 and then his career essentially fell off a cliff after that. Cost himself about $11 million with that blunder.
He cost himself more than that when he took the extension with the Brewers. Still made at least $25 million though.
Bad trade for the Rangers
He seemed to fall apart just as the extension negotiations with him did. I would say they dodged a bullet there but they just chose different bullets there after.
Congrats on a successful career, enjoy retirement.
This is about as 2022 as it gets. Are the Brewers hurting this bad for attendance?
Attendance not the best. However, it is Alumni weekend! All kinds of things happen. The biggest is the Robin Yount Replica give away jersey on Sunday. I have one from the last time 15 years ago!
He did look like an owl though.
Next to announce retirement?
My guess is Sergio Romo. And Jed Lowrie is still playing, but will retire soon or after the season.
How much money did he make?
Was always curious to me how he was so consistently good for a few years and then every facet of his game just fell apart. Still a pretty darn good career to hang your hat on though.