Former Indian and Cub Jason Kipnis has formally announced his retirement in a post on Twitter. Kipnis’ last appearance in the majors came in a Cubs uniform back in the 2020 pandemic-shortened year.
Drafted by Cleveland in the second round of the 2009 draft, Kipnis rose through the ranks as a highly regarded prospect, earning recognition on top-100 prospect lists prior to the 2011 season. That was the year Kipnis would make his big league debut as well, as he slashed .272/.333/.507 with seven home runs in an impressive 36 game rookie stint.
That was enough for Kipnis to earn the starting second base job in Cleveland the following year, a spot he wouldn’t relinquish for a number of seasons. After hitting .284/.366/.452 with 17 home runs in 2013, earning a trip to the All Star game and finishing 11th in AL MVP voting, Kipnis was rewarded with a six-year, $52.5MM extension in April of 2014. A disappointing season would follow but Kipnis would bounce back in style, hitting .303/.372/.451 and making his second trip to the All Star game. He’d also break the Cleveland record for individual hits in May, picking up 51 in a month which saw him hit .429/.511/.706.
Another strong showing would follow in 2016, as Kipnis would help Cleveland go as far as the World Series, where they’d fall in seven games to the Cubs. That’d be the last above-average offensive campaign for Kipnis, as his wRC+ would sit at just 86 between 2017-19, a period in which Kipnis would slash .236/.305/.403. That’d culminate in Cleveland declining his club option for 2019, allowing Kipnis to test free agency for the first time in his career.
Free agency wasn’t fruitful for Kipnis, and in February of 2020 he landed with the Cubs on a minor league deal. He’d go on to crack their roster and hit .237/.341/.404 over a 44-game stretch during that 60-game season. While Kipnis landed a minor league deal with Atlanta in 2021, he wouldn’t crack their roster and was released at the end of the season.
Kipnis spent the bulk of his ten big league seasons manning second base, but transitioned to become an outfield option for Cleveland towards the backend of his time there, logging innings in center field in both 2017 and 2018.
All told, Kipnis finishes his career with a batting line .260/.333/.416 with 126 home runs, 1,147 hits and 136 stolen bases. That 1,000 hit came in true style, as Kipnis launched a walk-off grand slam against the White Sox in September, 2018. MLBTR congratulates Kipnis on a fine playing career, and wishes him all the best in whatever comes next.
Super underrated player. Best of luck Jason!
Kipnis hit .290 with ATL (AAA) in 2021 with a .390 OB. What happened? Why did everyone give up on him?
Health.
He also wasn’t terrible with the Cubs either in 2020 (much smaller sample size, but still).
Underrated? He made 2 all star teams and peaked out at 28 years old. Career 21 WAR and .750 ops.
Not sure how that amounts to underrated. He was awesome and then dropped off a cliff.
OMG! I guess he’s not going to the Hall of Fame then, huh? Can’t call him underrated then. He has to be indisputably great in Lyman’s book, and that includes being great for more than what, 12 years enough? More?
Until then, Lyman will never give a crap about anything he achieved or did. Just doesn’t care. Thanks for that drop in, Lyman.
What are you talking about? You sound emotional. He made two all star teams in his very short prime. That to me, means that he was praised properly for his good years. Also, having played fantasy at the time we all knew how good that pop and speed were coming from the 2B position. So I really didn’t think he was underrated at all. His production fell off a cliff at 28 years old after making two all star teams.
I’m saying his great play was acknowledged during the short time it existed.
Kipnis was underrated by his own fanbase. The fans here constantly wanted him traded or would whine about his (even at the time, reasonably affordable) contract. Some fans really sort of resented that Kipnis ended up being the reason that Giovanny Urshela ended up on waivers – with 2B taken Jose Ramirez was at 3B and there wasn’t a position for Ursh. The truth is Kipnis over-earned that contract with his first 4-5 years here.
Has anyone else seen the HUGE mistake in this article? Jason Kipnis has NEVER played with the Cleveland GUARDIANS. He played for the Cleveland INDIANS and the Chicago Cubs.
damn straight. terrible writer.
Retirement announces Jason Kipnis
Shame he’ll fall just short of 10 years’ service time!
The pension and healthcare would be nice but after making 50 million in his career I’m sure he’ll manage without it.
Yeah, I have read those “shame he didn’t make 10 yrs….”-comment before on guys who retire with a huge amount of dollars on their bank account. What the heck do people think?
For sure at $50MM he’s comfortable for multiple lifetimes, and not even 40 years old. No denying it. Still, he was better for longer than most and hard to believe he didn’t crack 10 years.
He played for 10 years and had 1165 games under his belt, so I believe he made it.
10 years is a -full- pension. He’ll still get a pension.
Yes, he played ten years.
He has 9 years and 69 days service time
No one cares
Someone must have.
Jasons Father Mark, was my divorce attorney.
bayne…what caused your divorce. be honest. what did you do?
I did nothing but show up at home early from a business trip. The ex-wife and neighbor provided the rest of the story. By the end of it, I had custody of my 2 sons, ages 5 & 6 and now I receive child support from someone who didn’t care from the start.
And Larry Brown follows up that answer with a quick drink
@MikeBayne- Hey really sorry to hear all of that, that’s so lousy. I really wish you my absolute best. I can’t believe all that you’ve been through, so glad you have your kids, enjoy. And glad she’s giving you child support. Hang in there!
You’re a stand up dad, Mike. Keep up the good work.
That is terrible, man. Glad you have the kids. That is reprehensible what she did.
I’d definitely say that’s a happy ending ,friend. alls well…..
Mike….thats a tough one buddy truly am sorry to hear on the flip side congrats on getting to raising those babies in loving home …once upon a time the kids would be with mom almost 100% of the time….all the best to you and the kids
Few years too late there, Kip.
In related news, Rollie Fingers and Catfish Hunter have just announced their retirement.
The A’s went to throw a minor league invite to Catfish, only to discover he’s been dead for 24 years.
Cleveland thanks you for the memories, Dirtbag.
Kipnis was on a broadcast last year and he had an all time great story. Back when he first came up the team was bad and there often was like less than 10k fans in the stands. He recalled on one such game they had Tom Hamilton’s radio play by play going in the background for fans to hear at the Concessions, but it was so sparse the players could hear it. He took a big lead at first base intending to steal on a pitcher he had a read on. Hamilton said something like “Kipnis with a *huge lead*, he might be going”. To which the pitcher immediately looked over to Kipnis, who immediately retreated back to first, having been ratted out by our play by play guy.
Who wrote this? All I saw was the word would a thousand times.
Calm down, Professor Higgins
enry iggins?
I can’t imagine the Venn diagram of MLB Trade Rumors posters and My Fair Lady quoters has much overlap, and yet here we are!
I never saw a more enchanting farce
Jmelltt
If he had written this earlier in the day, I’d blame Morning Would.
I also saw “Guardians” a thousand times too. Alot of kitty cats in the press now.
I am still disappointed that the Rockies didn’t get him in the Ubaldo Jimenez trade with the Indians. The buzz was that the Rockies could choose 2 of 4 players as the main part of the package, Kipnis, Lonnie Chisenhall, Drew Pomeranz, and Alex White. They chose to get two prospect pitchers in Pomeranz and White instead of getting a position player instead. Still stings.
Hi flew, I think in the name of all things that do not matter, I speak for the entire baseball world and Elsa in saying let it go.
I’m not on a ledge or anything man. I still sleep at night.
Him and Darvish were two of my fave Cubs in the covid shortened season. Happy Trails Mr. Kipnis
i’ll never forget that split second where i thought he hit a walk off homer in game 7 of the ‘16 world series. only to see it a routine foul ball. thanks for all you did for cleveland, kip
Manny aint worth 400 million. Will he get it? It’s a poll. Three possible answers.
Yes
No
Maybe
I’ll be lucky to retire at 70. Jason did it in half that time. Enjoy retirement, Jason!
There is truly something wrong when someone can’t retire by 70 after years of hard work.
Who knew. There’s baseball trade rumors and then there’s stories of neighborhood cranks cranking, divorce, tragedy and triumph. It is all here for us, just beneath the surface. Untapped until now. New treasure has been unburied.
So, go ahead, Seamus, ask miltpappas why he might not be able to retire at 70. Don’t just poke around at it.
Larry Brown’s crank took the challenge upon himself and rather snarkily asked MikeBayne what he did to deserve his divorce. The answer took a hard veer from the expected, and while extremely sad it was extremely uplifting.
This miltpappas-might-not-be-able-to-retire at 70 backstory might not be like that. Or it might be better, if that is even possible. Let’s find out.
Of course MLBTR commenters have no right to ask miltpappas why his life of fruitless toil will end in misery and failure, and no right to an answer which might actually be one of triumph over tragedy. But no risk it no biscuit. Ask him.
Our miltpappas might be 25 and joking, or 68 and trapped by a life tale that could make us laugh, cry, or brighten our rainy day.
I had a connection to Milt Pappas, old Gimpy himself. His life route veered all over the place. A wife’s mysterious demise, a perfect game’s bizarre fail, an unmatched ability to whine, a magical talent…thus there’s no telling what his namesake miltpappas will tell you if you dare to ask.
Underrated player. Best of luck in retirement Jason 🙂
Happy retirement Kip aka Dirtbag!
Congratulations, Kip! Great job, looking forward to the next chapter. Thanks for all the grit. Among top 5 best second basemen in Cleveland history
Must not have had any clubs interested. He’s less than year shy of that golden 10 year service time mark.
Jason always had a well groomed beard.
Next they’ll tell me Travis Hafner will retire….
The league retired him a couple years ago
He seemed to get a big hit against the Tigers too often.
In other news, Morrie Wills and Stephen Garvey have announced their retirements. Hope this doesn’t impact Clay Carroll
Jason Kipnis never played for the Guardians a day in his career. What a terrible article. He played for the Cleveland Indians. Do you hacks refer to Hall of Famers like Andre Dawson & Vladimir Guerrero, Sr. as Hall of Fame “Washington Nationals”?!? No you don’t. Best of luck in retirement Jason, 2016 American League Champion Cleveland Indian.
Seems like something incredibly inconsequential to get upset about
And then there are those who will get upset with us old codgers who will refer to them as the Cleveland Indians for the rest of our lives. Oh, and the Angels…………the California Angels! 🙂
If inly he could have stayed healthy
If only he could have stayed healthy
If only he could have stayed healthy
Another pandemic related retirement. No accountablility