Kevin Pillar is hanging up his Superman cape. On an appearance on Foul Territory, he announced that he is retiring from playing. He was with the Rangers earlier this year but was released about a month ago.
Pillar, now 36, was able to engineer an incredible zero-to-hero career. The Blue Jays drafted him in the 32nd round of the 2011 draft. But despite that humble beginning, he would not only make it to the big leagues but he would stick around for more than a decade.
His best asset was his defense, as he quickly earned a reputation for making highlight-reel catches, often diving horizontally in a way that earned him his Superman nickname. He got some limited big league time in 2013 and 2014 before fully cementing himself as a big leaguer in 2015.
That year, he got into 159 games for the Jays, producing a batting line of .278/.314/.399. His 94 wRC+ indicated he was 6% below league average at the plate, but that was more than adequate to pair with his other attributes. He stole 25 bases and received strong grades for his glovework, leading FanGraphs to credit him with 3.7 wins above replacement. That played a big role in getting the Jays to the postseason for the first time since 1993. Though the club was eventually felled by the Royals in the ALCS, the Jays got José Bautista’s legendary bat flip game along the way.
That would ultimately prove to be an apex for Pillar. He never again stole more than 15 bases nor topped a 90 wRC+ in a full season. But he still proved to be a useful player in generally the same shape, with his speed and defense making up for some subpar offense. From 2016 to 2018, he got into 442 games for the Jays, slashing .258/.296/.401 for an 86 wRC+ and producing 4.5 fWAR.
By the time the 2019 season had rolled around, Pillar was 30 years old and the Jays were rebuilding. Early that year, he was flipped to the Giants, which started the journeyman period of his career. Over the next few years, he would bounce to the Red Sox, Rockies, Mets, Dodgers, Braves, White Sox, Angels and Rangers. Though he had moved into his 30s, his performance was roughly the same as before, though with his glovework naturally slipping a bit. Over those 2019-25 seasons, he played 544 games and hit .246/.284/.415 for an 85 wRC+ and produced 2.4 fWAR.
Most recently, he had a stint with the Rangers but hit just .209/.209/.256 in 20 games before getting designated for assignment and released. He had flirted with retirement before but now seems to have decided that it’s time to hang up the spikes.
Any 32nd-round pick making it to the big leagues is exceedingly rare. In fact, the draft was shortened to 20 rounds a few years ago, so it likely won’t happen again. Pillar not only made it, but he got into 1,234 games over 13 seasons. He racked up 1,053 hits, including 114 home runs. He was credited with 10.8 WAR from FanGraphs and 16.1 from Baseball Reference. He earned about $25MM in his career, according to Baseball Reference. We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Pillar on an impressive career and wish him the best with whatever comes next.
Figured he would be starting for the Angels by now.
He did well in his time with them too. But, he got his 10 years of Service Time and will get his full pension. Not a bad career for Kevin!
I doubt he’s even a reasonable replacement for Soler who just came off the IL. There’s just no place for him in the lineup right now.
Played his heart out and played hard with the Blue Jays. We appreciated it.
Mazel tov to Kevin on a fine career. Wishing him and his family the best going forward. He still has a lot to offer to the game and will consider remaining in baseball in some capacity.
He was best as a Blue Jay. But loved him in his stint with the Giants. Awesome player.
I still love the way Pillar reacted to the Bautista-Odor fight. He came flying out like he was going to kill someone.
@Ted
It was the fastball to the face thing for me. I’m pretty sure he just wanted to run some dirt on it then take his base.
NoSaint I decided to look back at the Pillar trade to the Giants and how Jays fans felt Anthony Alford would match or exceed Pillar’s production. It was quite a time back then on mlbtr.
Kevins Pillar and Kiermaier were great fun to watch out in CF even as an opposing fan. A little sad to see them both out of the game now.
Still a little room on the PCA bandwagon.
Oh yeah he’s a super-exciting young player! Happy to see that his bat has really materialized this year; true 5-toolers such a rarity. But he’s not a consistent force in the AL East like the Kevins were.
MeowMeow: How can you say that? PCA is a much more consistent all-around force than they were.
The “in the AL East” part was the big point. I saw the Kevins SO MUCH and I only see PCA occasionally. That’s not anything about their relative skill just my personal connection with their respective games.
What took him so long? What a hack. Ahahahahaha!
Yup, a millionaire baseball player with a 10 year career that almost no one gets to do. What a hack indeed.
NYCityriddler- some people just love the game and don’t want to quit I respect it and to be honest he has had a great career so stop looking at the negatives.
16.1 WAR and $25 millions in earnings. I wish I was a quarter of a hack.
I’m pretty sure the only person who thinks Riddler is funny is Riddler.
I don’t know why people bother responding to him. Ahahahaha! Yawn.
Frank Gorshin he’s not.
Well played!
You are a disgrace to the Batman villain.
6 months later than we thought but we knew it was coming.
Decent career for Pillar, was pretty good for the Sox in his brief stay in Boston and was always fun to watch in CF with the Blue Jays
Hall of famer in my heart.
remember when he got drilled in the face. crazy
Gamer. He was back quick. Pillar was an asset to every team he played for. Great career and best wishes to his next phase.
Nice career. Congrats Pillar!
He had a great year with the Giants and enjoyed his style of play. Gave 100% all the time !!!
He’ll be back.
Non Roster: No he won’t. That’s what retirement means.
BB
He retired once already.
He initially thought 2024 would be his final year, but a thumb surgery and a desire to avoid ending his career with that surgery led him to sign a minor-league deal with the Texas Rangers for 2025..
Nobody’s going to sign him now anyway.
He got his 10 years. He will have retirement/pension and insurance too. A great thing for him.
@mattb Yup, though unlike for most Americans, of course.
Every other developed nation in the world has universal health care, with far better outcomes on average and even underdeveloped countries such as Colombia getting much better health outcomes with shorter wait times for treatment and surgery.
If you make $600k-plus a year, American medicine is preferable. For everyone else, for-profit health care kills 70,000 Americans every year, and killed 330,000 Americans during Covid.
Happy Fourth, All!
“We now return you to our normal baseball discussion programming.”
@JackassStraw take your lousy politics elswhere
Tougher than nails! Thanks for all the great baseball! Have a great rest of your life!
Wherever Kevin goes, he will be a Pillar of the community.
🤣
He may be tougher than nails but is he as big of a scumbag?
Why what did he do?
I played against Pillar in college when he was at Dominguez Hills. He was a stud, really cool dude too. We chatted a bit before one of the games. Congrats on a great career, Kevin.
One of the best highlight reels in recent history. Web gem after web gem.
Was a great influence on the youngsters here as well.
Happy trails, Pillar.
Pillar had a nice season with the Giants. He couldn’t lay off the outside pitch and didn’t draw many bases on balls but above all he played with passion and was a fun player to watch.
After 15 games this season he was batting .300 but an 0 for 13 did him in combined with not drawing a walk all season.
Nonetheless an excellent career. Have fun in your next chapter Superman!
Had a great year with the Giants. Very enjoyable to watch him play defense.
A real pleasure to root for when with the Mets! Tough as nails player. Enjoy your retirement with your family.
I was wondering why I couldn’t remember Pillar’s time with the Dodgers. Probably because it lasted all of four games.
A Hall of Famer in my book. But, I am extremely, extremely biased, because Pillar always came thru for me in “MLB The Show”. Clutch too.
#kevinpillarlivesmatter
Tough player, I remember a Braves pitcher hitting him in the face with a pitch, fracturing it, and he got mad when the Mets manager wouldn’t play him the next day. Enjoy your retirement Kevin.
Thought he retired a long time ago
Pay attention.
Was a good part of the BlueJays during their 2015-2016 post season runs.
Best of luck in all your future endeavors, Mr. Pillar. You were a really good ballplayer.
A surprising number of haters on this thread for Pillar. Well, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. Well screw them idiots…I’m here to celebrate a great guy and one of the most exciting ball players I ever saw for a 5 year stretch in my close to 50 years of religiously following baseball. If someone doesn’t appreciate what Kevin Pillar did during his heyday with Toronto then too bad for them. I’m a Dodger fan, but watching Pillar patrol center field for Toronto during the late teens was a special treat. He gave it his all every game and made some of the best highlight reel catches in baseball for a half decade. He also provided some pop at the plate and was a good base runner and by every account I heard, a terrific teammate as well. You don’t last a decade in the majors without bringing something useful and Pillar hustled and got more out of his talent than most big leaguers. I wish Pillar the best of luck in whatever he chooses to do next and thank him for making the game better.
Giants fan here. Pillar led our 2019 team (by far) with 87 RBI and tied for the team lead with 21 HR. Possibly the only time in his career he could make those claims. Good Giant.
A fan favourite in Toronto. Still see the Pillar jerseys in the stands.
Best wishes on a well deserved retirement!
Maybe some broadcasting in the future?
Congrats to Kevin Pillar on a fine career. Got his ten and his pension. I am envious of all those guys who got to hang around the bigs that long.
Well done.
As a Yankees fan I’m surprised he’s never had an above average offensive season, he put the ball in play and performed in the clutch against us so consistently I just assumed he was a 105-110 ops+ bat for his prime.
Hats off to a great competitor, he played hard.
Pillar was pretty good for a couple of years defensively and played all out.
One of my favorite enemies… gosh Pillar was amazing. Never seen anyone better, though Kiermeier and the KC OF of 2014-15 were almost as good.
Blessings, Kevin! Thanks for not playing against the Os any more!