Angels Free Agent Foregoes Retirement, Signs With AL West Rival

Maren Angus-Coombs | Feb 23, 2025

Jul 28, 2024; Anaheim, California, USA; Los Angeles Angels left fielder Taylor Ward (3) and center fielder Kevin Pillar (12) and right fielder Jo Adell (7) celebrate a victory after defeating the Oakland Athletics 8-6 at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images / Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

After contemplating retirement last season, Kevin Pillar decided it wasn't time to hang up his cleats just yet and signed a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers with an invite to major league camp, the club announced Sunday morning.

Pillar split last season between the Los Angeles Angels and Chicago White Sox, slashing .229/.291/.377 in 100 games and missing a large chunk of September with a thumb sprain.

The Texas Rangers today announced that the club has signed OF Kevin Pillar (#16) to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training camp.

— Texas Rangers PR (@TXRangersPR) February 23, 2025

The veteran outfielder is no longer the defender he once was but he did play above-average defense for the Angels. He also crushed left-handed pitching with a .310/.352/.500 slash line.

Across 83 games with the Angels, Pillar slashed .236/.291/.378 with seven home runs, 41 RBIs and 10 stolen bases.

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While with the Angels last season, Pillar reached a rare milestone as he hit 10 years of service time. He’s also reached all the milestones he was aiming for last season, getting his 1,000th hit and scoring his 500th run on May 19 at Texas, and getting his 100th career stolen base on May 15.

As he inches closer to retirement, it makes sense that he signed with the Rangers. He shared last season that his family recently moved to Texas.

We just had a great chat with Kevin Pillar about his decision to not retire.

Biggest takeaway: he got into some other hobbies this offseason, specifically that he got about 50 chickens and six (6) llamas, three of which are pregnant right now.

— kennedi landry (@kennlandry) February 23, 2025

"I just bought a 17-acre ranch in Texas," he told Jerry Crasnick of the MLB Players Association. "That's where we're moving. So I’m going to get pretty heavily involved in that – raising cattle, goats, cows and chickens. We have a couple of llamas on the property. I want to spend a little more time fishing in the pond that we have and immersing myself in hunting culture. I’ve done it a couple of times and I’ve always been very interested in that.

"I’ve done some real estate investing and some house flipping. I bought a couple of rental properties, and they kind of run themselves. When a check's not coming in anymore from baseball, and push comes to shove and I need to make money for my family, I'm excited to focus my time and energy on something else when I don’t have to worry about performing on the field."

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Even if Pillar doesn't make the big league roster out of camp, the distance between his family home and the Rangers' Triple-A club in Round Rock is only three hours.

Before playing for the White Sox and Angels last season, Pillar spent parts of 12 major league seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays (2013-19), San Francisco Giants (2019), Boston Red Sox (2020), Colorado Rockies (2020), New York Mets (2021), Los Angeles Dodgers (2022), and Atlanta Braves (2023).

For more Angels news, head over to Angels on SI.