Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman (11) waves to the crowd after being removed from the game against the Boston Red Sox during the eighth inning at Nationals Park. Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Nationals two-time All-Star Ryan Zimmerman announces retirement

The guy who was there when it all began in the nation's capital is hanging up his cleats after a 17-year MLB career.

Following a 20-game stint with the Nationals during their inaugural 2005 campaign, Zimmerman burst onto the scene in 2006, hitting 20 home runs and posting career-highs in doubles (47) and RBI (110), finishing second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. Zimmerman put together another solid season in 2007 before being limited to 106 contests in 2008 due to injury.

The 2009 season was arguably the corner infielder's best one overall. He recorded career-bests in hits (178), runs scored (110) and total bases (320), while blasting 33 home runs and collecting 106 RBI with a .292/.364/.525 slash line. Zimmerman earned his first All-Star nod, first Silver Slugger Award and lone Gold Glove Award that season as well.

Zimmerman garnered his other Silver Slugger honor in 2010, but injuries later hurt his production from 2014 to 2016. He played in just 61, 95 and 115 games in those seasons, respectively. The now-37-year-old came back with a big performance in 2017, making his second All-Star squad and putting up career-highs in home runs (36), slugging percentage (.573) and OPS (.930).

Despite the solid production from Zimmerman, Washington fell in the NLDS for the fourth time in six seasons and left the veteran still without a playoff series victory. That changed in 2019, when, behind a rotation headed by Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg and a lineup highlighted by Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto, the Nationals defeated the Houston Astros in seven games in the World Series.

Zimmerman played in just 52 regular-season games that year but helped the team in October by collecting two home runs, seven RBI, 14 hits and five runs scored in 16 playoff games. After sitting out the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Zimmerman closed his career by recording 14 home runs and 46 RBI over 255 at-bats in 2021.

The Washington, N.C. native closes his MLB career with 284 home runs, 1,061 RBI and a .277/.341/.475 slash line in 1,799 regular-season games.

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