Experienced first baseman Matt Adams has announced his retirement from baseball. The 36-year-old penned a lengthy farewell letter to the sport he loves, thanking his teammates, coaches, clubhouse staff, fans and family in a statement that you can read in full on Adams’ social media accounts (X link and Instagram link). According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Adams will sign a ceremonial one-day contract with the Cardinals next week, giving him the opportunity to retire as a member of the organization that first selected him in the 23rd round of the 2009 draft.
The 6’3″ and 250-pound Adams made his major league debut just three seasons after being drafted. He was drafted in May/June at age 23 and hit .244/.286/.384 in his first major league appearance. By 2013, he had established himself as a staple in the Cardinals’ lineup, hitting .284/.335/.503 and hitting 17 home runs in just 319 at-bats. “Big City” delivered a solid center field offense from 2013-17, hitting .272/.317/.473 with 73 home runs, 97 doubles and six triples in 1,762 at-bats from 2013-17.
After the move Matt Zimmerman to first base for the 2017 season, but the Cardinals no longer had regular at-bats for Adams at first base. An injury early in the season Freddie Freeman An opportunity arose in Atlanta, and the Cardinals traded Adams to the Braves in exchange for the then junior player Juan Yepez. Adams was a hitter in Atlanta, hitting so well early in his time there that Freeman even briefly switched to the other side of the field after returning from the injured list, playing 16 games at third base to keep both left-handers on the roster (before the NL introduced the designated hitter).
Adams became a free agent in the offseason and signed a one-year contract with the Nationals. As the Nats’ primary first baseman, he hit well (.257/.332/.510), and when the Nats launched a fire sale in late August of that year, Adams landed on waivers, where he was signed by the Cardinals. His return to St. Louis, however, did not go as well as his original assignment. Over the final six weeks of the season, he hit just .158/.200/.333 in 60 at-bats.
Adams became a free agent again at the end of the season and signed another one-year deal in Washington, D.C., nearly a year after his original deal with the Nationals. It was a fateful return because although Adams only posted a .226 batting average and .276 on-base percentage, he was a key source of left-handed power and a strong hitter off the bench in what ended up being the Nationals’ Cinderella season. Adams hit 20 home runs for manager Davey Martinez’s club as the Nats staged an almost unfathomable rebound from a 19-31 start to win the 2019 World Series.
The 2019 season was the last in which Adams played even semi-regularly in the major leagues. He returned briefly to Atlanta in 2020, where he appeared in 16 games but struggled at bat. He had a similarly short run with the Rockies in 2021, where he played 22 games and again struggled to regain his form. Adams spent the 2022 season with the Kansas City Monarchs of the independent American Association and returned to the Nationals organization in 2023, although he spent the entire year with their Triple-A club. He played this season with the Toros de Tijuana in the Mexican League (.272/.309/.491, 13 home runs), but will now officially retire just two weeks after his 36th birthday.
Adams doesn’t sound like someone who plans to be out of baseball for a long time. In his retirement statement, he expressed his willingness to pursue a new path within the game.
“I look forward to seeking coaching opportunities where I can continue to contribute to the sport I love,” Adams wrote. “Over the past few years, I have had the privilege of taking on a mentoring role as a veteran player. Through this experience, I have found a new way of loving the game – one that allows me to share my knowledge and guide the next generation of athletes. That is the direction I am eager to explore. … I look forward to the chance to continue to compete and win, this time from a different perspective.”
His playing career is now officially over, and Adams can now close out a career that saw him post a .258/.306/.463 batting average in 2,614 major league appearances, with 624 total hits, including 118 home runs, 130 doubles, and six triples. Adams scored 297 runs in his career, including 399, and appeared in three different postseasons (2013, 2014, and the 2019 World Series season). He played for four major league teams and earned nearly $15 million in salary while playing more than eight years in the major leagues. All the best to Matt as he takes the next step in his baseball journey.
