After 11 professional seasons, right-hander Aaron Barrett announced that he is retiring from baseball. The 34-year-old said he’ll pitch in his final game on Monday, July 4, as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate.
Barrett began his pro career when the Washington Nationals selected him in the ninth round of the 2010 draft, though Barrett had also been taken in the 2006, 2008 and 2009 drafts by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers, respectively. This began a run in the Washington that lasted until Barrett inked a minor-league deal with the Phillies this past winter, and Barrett’s final season has been a struggle, with a 13.86 ERA over 12 1/3 innings for Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
As Barrett put it in his goodbye message, “I went into this year thinking this could be my last run. I gave it EVERYTHING I had. It didn’t go the way I thought it could. That’s life! It’s time for me to start the next chapter of my life.”
Barrett appeared in parts of four MLB seasons, with most of that work coming in the 2014-15 seasons when he posted a 3.47 ERA over 70 innings and 90 relief appearances. The rest of his big league resume consists of four total innings across the 2019-20 campaigns. The gap in between those major league stints perhaps defines Barrett’s character, as his promising was sidetracked by both a Tommy John surgery, and then a fractured humerus bone.
Barrett’s long road back eventually led him to once again pitch in the majors — fans may recall the viral video of Double-A manager Matt LeCroy fighting back tears while telling Barrett that he had been promoted back to the Nationals’ active roster. While Barrett only tossed 2 1/3 innings for the 2019 Nationals, he was still part of a World Series championship team.
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