One-time All-Star SP J.A. Happ retires after 15-year career

The 39-year-old southpaw announced his retirement last week on "The Heart Strong Podcast," hosted by Jessica Lindberg. Happ was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the third round of the 2004 MLB June Amateur Draft and made his big league debut in June 2007.

After appearing in just the one game that year, Happ made eight appearances (four starts) in 2008 and was a member of the Phillies' World Series championship-winning squad. The Northwestern University product broke out in 2009 when he went 12-4 with a career-best 2.93 ERA, as well as a strong 1.23 WHIP and three complete games (including two shutouts) over 35 games (23 starts), which was good enough to help Happ earn runner-up status in the NL Rookie of the Year voting.

Happ was traded with Anthony Gose and Jonathan Villar to the Houston Astros in exchange for three-time All-Star Roy Oswalt in July 2010 and struggled mightily in his first full season in Houston in 2011, going 6-15 with a 5.35 ERA. The native of Peru, Ill. was moved to the Toronto Blue Jays in July 2012 and spent the bulk of the following six years north of the border.

Arguably Happ's best season came in 2016, when he went 20-4 and finished inside the top-10 in the AL in wins (second), ERA (3.18, sixth), hits per nine innings (7.7, sixth) and WHIP (1.16, 10th), and he came in sixth place in the AL Cy Young Award voting. During his 2018 season split between the Blue Jays and New York Yankees, the lefty went 17-6 with a 3.65 ERA, career-high 193 strikeouts and career-low 1.13 WHIP, while making the only All-Star team of his career.