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Inside The Padres

Former Padres Outfielder Suddenly Retires From Baseball at 34

The journeyman spent one season in San Diego before finishing his career in Mexico
J.P. Hoornstra|
San Diego Padres right fielder Brian O'Grady (left) smiles in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run against the Chicago Cubs during the third inning at Petco Park on June 7, 2021.
San Diego Padres right fielder Brian O'Grady (left) smiles in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run against the Chicago Cubs during the third inning at Petco Park on June 7, 2021. | Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images

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San Diego Padres

Brian O'Grady, who played the last of his three MLB seasons with the San Diego Padres in 2021, announced his retirement from professional baseball in a post to his X account Saturday.

"After 12+ years of pro baseball I am officially retired!" O'Grady wrote. "From living out my dream in the MLB, to Japan, Korea, Mexico and everywhere in between - it has been an incredible ride. I gave baseball everything I had, and it gave me even more. I could go on and on, but really I'm just grateful. For the life lessons, relationships, memories and much more.

"Baseball led me to my beautiful wife, our amazing kids, and this life we have built. That is what I am most grateful for. Thank you baseball — you were everything this kid dreamed of."

O'Grady, 34, played 32 games for the Padres in 2021, mostly as a pinch hitter and defensive replacement in the outfield. He went 8-for-51 (.157) with eight walks and 17 strikeouts.

The Padres signed O'Grady as a free agent in December 2020. He had a strong spring training, slashing .250/.389/.455 in 25 games, but was assigned to the team's alternate training site (where minor leaguers reported before COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted).

Although his success in San Diego was sporadic, O'Grady had a strong showing at Triple-A El Paso. He slashed .281/.366/.547 in 74 games for the Padres' top farm team.

In three MLB seasons with the Cincinnati Reds (2019), Tampa Bay Rays (2020), and Padres, O'Grady played 62 games and slashed .184/.283/.388 with four home runs and 12 RBIs.

That was just a sliver of a long career that took O'Grady, a Philadelphia native, from Rutgers to the big leagues, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Japan and Korea.

After 22 games with the Korea Baseball Organization's Hanwha Eagles in 2023, O'Grady returned to the United States and played three seasons of independent minor league baseball.

O'Grady played for Union Laguna in the Mexican League the past two seasons. In 18 games with the Algodoneros in 2026, he slashed .150/.239/.333.

All told, O'Grady played 658 games in the minor leagues, 227 in foreign leagues and another 186 in independent U.S. leagues before retiring.

O'Grady had already begun working as a remote hitting instructor, posting clips and advice on his X page.

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J.P. Hoornstra
J.P. HOORNSTRA

J.P. Hoornstra is an On SI Contributor. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.

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