A Baltimore Orioles player who has been with the team since 2011 has announced his retirement from Major League Baseball. Chris Davis has called it a baseball career amid injury problems during his final years with the Orioles. Davis has not played this season after having surgery in May to repair the labrum in his left hip, as mentioned by ESPN.
“After an extended time dealing with my injury and recent hip surgery, I informed the Orioles about my decision to retire effective today,” Davis said in an official statement released by the club. “I want to thank the Orioles partnership group, led by the Angelos family, the Orioles organization, my teammates and coaches, The University of Maryland Children’s Hospital with whom I will continue to be involved following my retirement and, of course, Birdland. Thank you all for the many memories I will cherish forever.”
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Thank you, Crush. pic.twitter.com/WRdQrfDyOz
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 12, 2021
Davis retires more than a year before his $161 million contract was set to expire. According to MLB.com, Davis will receive all the remaining money after he and the team restructured the deal, which includes deferred payments through 2037. He was set to earn $21 million next year, and that sum will count against the Orioles luxury tax. Davis will receive annual installments for the next four years.
Davis, 35, started his career with the Texas Rangers in 2008. He was with the team for nearly four seasons before being traded to the Orioles in July 2011. Davis reached his first and only All-Star game in 2013 and was the MLB‘s home run leader that same year (53). In 2015, Davis led MLB in homers again with 47. From 2012-2017 Davis hit at least 26 homers per year. Last year, injuries led to Davis hitting zero home runs in 16 games.
“Today is a day we should be celebrating Chris and all the great things he did here,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “Those really good years, he was a fixture in the lineup and a major run producer. A middle-of-fhe-order bat on a really, really good team that had All-Star-caliber years. He’s done so much off the field as well. Great teammate, well liked around the league. I think that will be his legacy.”
