Howie Kendrick has decided to call it a career. The 2019 NLCS MVP announced his retirement after 15 seasons in Major League Baseball via Instagram Monday.
“After 15 MLB seasons, Iāve decided to retire from the game of baseball, Kendrick wrote. “A dream that started as a 5 yr old boy in the town of Callahan, Florida. I will be forever grateful for the many life lessons baseball has taught me on this 32 yr journey.”
Kendrick played a total of 1,621 games throughout his career while playing for the Los Angeles Angles, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies and most recently the Washington Nationals.
He hit .294/.337/.430 with 127 home runs, 724 RBIs and 349 walks in his career. He also had 126 stolen bases.
Both Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez said they expected Kendrick would return to play in 2021.
Kendrick spent the final four seasons of his career in Washington after being traded in July 2017 from Philadelphia.
“… My Beloved Washington Nationals, thank you for embracing me as one of your own. I feel as though Iād been a National my whole career and the wild, humbling and crazy ride we had in 2019 truly culminated everything Iād learned in my career, and we all became World Champions.”
Kendrick had the best year of his career in 2019, one season after rupturing his Achilles. He hit .344 with an on-base percentage of .395 and .572 slugging percentage. All of which were a career-highs. Additionally, Kendrick had 17 homers and 62 RBIs.
He culminated the season by being named NLCS MVP en route of the Nationals making the World Series. He then hit the go-ahead home run in Game 7, lifting the Nationals to the franchise’s first World Series title.
However, Kendrick, 37, struggled coronavirus-shortened 2020 season. He hit .275/.320/.385 with two home runs and 14 RBIs in 25 games. A left hamstring injury led to him being shut down for the season on September 9.
