12-year MLB veteran Nick Ahmed has announced his retirement from baseball. Ahmed made the announcement on social media earlier today. A two-time Gold Glove award winner, Ahmed played for the Diamondbacks, Giants, Dodgers, Padres, and Rangers during his time in the majors.
“For as long as I can remember, all I ever wanted to do was play baseball,” Ahmed said in his announcement. “I got to live out my childhood dream and play baseball for a very long time! After 15 professional seasons and more than a decade in the big leagues I am officially hanging up my spikes and retiring from playing baseball… I will always love the game of baseball. I am excited for my next chapter and the opportunity to give the best of me to this game we all love!”
The 35-year-old was a second-round pick by Atlanta back in 2011 out of the University of Connecticut. He was traded to Arizona as part of a package that brought back outfielder Justin Upton and infielder Chris Johnson prior to the 2013 season and made his big league debut with the Diamondbacks the following year. He made it into just 25 games that year, but in 2015 he took over for Didi Gregorius as the team’s regular shortstop. Ahmed’s .226/.275/.359 slash line (66 wRC+) in that rookie season wasn’t much to write home about, but he was a standout defender from the jump with +8 Defensive Runs Saved in his rookie season.
Injuries limited Ahmed to just 143 games across the 2016 and ’17 seasons, but he re-emerged in 2018 healthy enough to return to play on a regular basis. That age-28 season saw Ahmed reach his peak. His .234/.290/.411 (85 wRC+) slash line was still below average, but it was nonetheless a marked improvement over previous seasons. More impressive, however, was his growth defensively. Ahmed put up a defensive season for the ages in 2018, with an eye-popping +34 Outs Above Average and +25 Defensive Runs Saved. His glove was by far the most valuable of anyone in baseball that year—not just among shortstops, but at any position. Ahmed followed that brilliant performance up with one that was as good or better in 2019.
While his +17 OAA and +14 DRS weren’t quite as otherworldly as the prior season, they were still elite figures. This time, Ahmed’s strong defense was backed up by roughly league average offense, has he posted a 91 wRC+ and crushed a career-high 19 homers. Ahmed’s strong play continued into the shortened 2020 season, when he posted a 96 wRC+ with his typical excellent defense. From 2018-2020, Ahmed’s 8.9 fWAR was ninth-best among all shortstops and clocked in ahead of players like Carlos Correa and fellow defensive wizard Andrelton Simmons.
Unfortunately for Ahmed, his offense would come crashing back to Earth in 2021, when he posted a 66 wRC+. While his defense remained elite, injuries in 2022 limited him to just 17 games. His offense fell even further in 2023, and come September his defensive value just wasn’t enough to justify his roster spot as the Diamondbacks designated him for assignment to make room for top prospect Jordan Lawlar on the roster and dedicate more playing time to shortstop of the future Geraldo Perdomo. Ahmed split the 2024 season between the Giants, Dodgers, and Padres and appeared in 71 games as a bench piece and injury replacement for his three longtime division rivals before wrapping up his career with a five-game stint as a member of the Rangers this year.
All together, Ahmed appeared in 964 games during his big league career with a .233/.286/.370 slash line. He collected +118 OAA since Statcast began tracking the stat in 2016, a figure that trails on Francisco Lindor across the stat’s history. He also finished his career with +80 DRS, good for 11th overall and second among shortstops since Ahmed made his debut during the 2014 season. MLBTR joins the rest of the baseball world in congratulating Ahmed on a fine career and wishes him all the best in whatever comes next.
Congrats on a fine career. Padres legend.
Should have waited another day to make the announcement.
Decent defender. Probably not Hall of Famous Defenders but good enough. Making $40M in his career is pretty good chunk of change. Enjoy your retirement.
You can’t even get into the Hall of Famous Defenders.
@whyhayzee
How do you know?
Because it’s so well defended!
@whyhayzee
I know I’m so good at defending. Thank you for acknowledging that.
Richard
@retsubllab
Who?
413 legend!! Thanks for representing Western MA so well, Nick!!
as a diehard dbacks fan Nick was a class act amd great defender. His hitting for better over the years and then he got hurt and never found it again. Either way congrats!
It’s retirement day in MLB today or what? First Jesse Chavez and now Nick Ahmed.
Ahmed was fun to watch defensively in his prime. Congrats Nick
Good Luck Nick!
Congratulations Nick! You earned yourself a full pension.
Good defender but his hitting was some of the worst that I’ve ever seen. He still made the majors and had a long career though so props to him
Concrats Nick made some good money, playing, 12 years in the majors and only hitting a career .232. Most players hit that, and they are lucky to make it two seasons in the Majors.
Who says you can’t make it in baseball with just a glove. Now sit back enjoy your MLB pension.
Sad you did not get the chance to play for the Rockies, you would have been the first player to have played for the entire NL West in a career, that alone should have got you into the H of F.
Pension?
He made 40 million dollars already
He still has more than you and your family and their families will make in 10 lifetimes
I better not say what I’d really like to say or my account would get banned
The average salary in the U.S. is $66,622, according to the latest data from the Social Security Administration.
I assumed you were an average person
.
ahem * Steve Finley
Also reliever Matt Herges. The NL West has had two. I think every division except the AL Central has had at least one guy play for all five teams. I know Kelly Johnson did the entire AL East within three years from 2012-2014.
Nothing better in life than having fun making 40 million dollars
How ? No one can spend 40 million
I remember how bad my auction. Was one year when he was the best ss available.
Later nick enjoy it
Native of Springfield MA
Happy retirement buddy!
Not everyone who retires had a “fine career”. Nick should return at least half the money he made for wasting roster spots. He had 2 good seasons, shockingly coming during the inflated stats era of 2018-19. They were extreme outliers in what was below a mediocre career.
I can’t even believe someone mentioned the words, Hall of Fame.
Man, who peed in your corn flakes this morning??? He got to play in the majors for 10 years, something we all would love to do, something that nearly none of us have done, and he earned some nice coin while doing so. Why do you begrudge him the respect he’s due??? He may not be a Hall-of-Famer, but very few are, and that doesn’t define a successful career, anyway. Did he make the most of his talent? YES Did he enjoy himself doing it? YES Did he (probably) gain financial security while doing it? YES Sounds like an honorable and extremely successful career to me.
I’m commenting about a baseball player on the internet. Why would I owe him respect? I don’t know him personally, he hasn’t affected my life. All I can judge him on are his baseball numbers, which were mostly dreadful. Have you never said anything negative about any player? I think he was overpaid, overstayed, and underperformed. That’s my opinion. Sorry it hurt to hear that about somebody you don’t even know.
But thanks for the heads up on my corn flakes!
The only sad thing about this is that in 2024 he wasn’t able to sign with the Rockies. Then he would have played for all the NL West teams in one year.
Ahmed had a decent career..
A forever Giant…
He got a World Series ring just for signing up with the All-Star team who bought everyone – even Ahmed.
And aren’t you thankful he did? He is.
You realize your team, whichever team that is, could have signed him as well right?
I guess he just wanted to take the easy road and sign up knowing he’d get an easy ring.
When it’s your goal from when you’re a kid to get a ring and you have a chance to play for a possible world series contender, you sign.
Especially when you know you’re probably retiring within the next year or so.
That he couldn’t cross the finish line with the team doesn’t mean he didn’t contribute.
Same with ryan yarbrough, and a ton of other guys.