Former Legendary Baltimore Orioles Closer Officially Retires

Retirement comes for almost everyone at some point in their lives when they feel like enough work has been done in their career and want to wind things down.

The difference between retirement for the everyday person and athletes is that theirs is very public and also normally comes after the worst stretch of their professional careers.

Former Baltimore Orioles closer Zack Britton has officially decided to hang up the cleats as it was announced on Monday.

He had an exclusive interview with Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic discussing his decision to call it a career.

Much of his thought process about whether or not he was ready to stop playing baseball came in 2022 after he hurried back from Tommy John surgery as a member of the New York Yankees. He appeared in three games before being placed back on the injured list and never playing in another MLB game.

"My last outing was against the Orioles. I threw a ball to the backstop as my last pitch; I think about that and it sucks. It might not have been perfect from a career standpoint or going out on a high note, but you don’t always get to pick. My gut was telling me it was time to see what life was like on the other side," Britton said.

Formerly a third round pick of the Orioles in 2006, he became a two-time All-Star in 2015 and 2016. He recorded three-straight seasons of 30 or more saves, including an AL-leading 47 in 2016.

That 2016 season with Baltimore was the best in his career and one of the best that a reliever has ever had.

Britton only gave up four earned runs over 67 innings, which broke the MLB record for lowest-single season ERA (0.54) by a pitcher who threw at least 50 innings. He also had 43 outings without giving up an earned run and had 60 consecutive saves that ended in August of 2017.

The Orioles eventually traded him to the Yankees in 2018 after he was dealing with a ruptured Achilles tendon.

Britton had a great career in Baltimore and will be viewed as one of their most dominant relievers of all time.