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Dodgers Chase Utley announces retirement after 15 years in MLB

ByAmy Kaplan|
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 23: Chase Utley #26 of the Los Angeles Dodgers in action against the New York Mets at Citi Field on June 23, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. The Dodgers defeated the Mets 8-3. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 23: Chase Utley #26 of the Los Angeles Dodgers in action against the New York Mets at Citi Field on June 23, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. The Dodgers defeated the Mets 8-3. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Fan favorite MLB second baseman Chase Utley has officially announced his retirement from baseball following 15 years in the sport.

Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley has officially announced his retirement from baseball following 15 years in the sport. The retirement will take effect at the end of this season.

The MLB veteran made the announcement via a press conference at Dodger Stadium on Friday with most of the team in attendance.

“I’ve contemplated this for a few years now,” Utley said. “I imagined riding off into the sunset, but the more I thought of that, I realized that wasn’t fair to all of those who supported me.”

“Over the course of the years, I have been fairly private,” he said.

Utley is one of the oldest position players in baseball, and as such has garnered respect from teammates and fans alike. Though his final season with the Dodgers was lackluster (.231/.313/.331), due in part to his being on the DL for most of the season, he’s still considered one of the most important second basemen in the sport.

Utley made his MLB debut in 2003 when he debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies as a pinch hitter on April 3. He got his first major league start on April 24 against the Colorado Rockies where he recorded his first major league hit — a grand slam.

During the 2006 season, Utley maintained a 35-game hitting streak (the second-longest streak in Phillies history behind teammate Jimmy Rollins). That same season, he earned the Silver Slugger Award for being the best hitting second baseman in the National League. Utley hit his 200th career home run on the first day of the 2013 season

He played for the Phillies until 2015, when he was traded on Aug. 19 to the Dodgers in exchange for Darnell Sweeney and John Richy. For the Dodgers, he dabbled at third base for the first time in his major league career. In 2016, the Dodgers declined his option but resigned him on a one-year, $7 million contract. That season, Utley became the oldest player to have a six-hit game. He received Roy Campanella Award that year.

“I can go into my last season in baseball with fun and enthusiasm, and most of all a clear head,” he said.

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Utley is a six-time All-Star, a four-time Silver Slugger Award winner, and a World Series champion (Phillies, 2008).

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