Former Padres Reliever Retires From MLB After 17 Years in Baseball

The San Diego Padres are off to an exciting start to open up the 2025 season.

In a brief change of pace, a longtime baseball veteran and former Padres reliever in Jay Jackson has retired from the sport.

More news: Padres' Yu Darvish Appears to Be Ways Away From Returning

Veteran MLB reliever Jay Jackson is retiring after 17 seasons in baseball. He’d love to work for a team and is also open to a career in broadcasting, his agent Nello Gamberdino said.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) March 29, 2025

Jackson made his MLB debut in San Diego in 2015 after starting his professional baseball career in the Chicago Cubs farm system in 2008.

After his September debut at Petco Park, he would play five more games that season before starting a new chapter of his baseball career in Japan.

Nippon Professional Baseball turned out to be where Jackson would come into his own and thrive as a pitcher. In four seasons overseas, he threw in 182 games with an impressive ERA of 2.16. Over this time he threw 204 strikeouts to just 71 walks.

Jackson briefly returned to MLB in 2019 making 28 appearances for the Milwaukee Brewers. He picked up where he left off in NPB throwing 47 strikeouts to just 18 walks for an ERA of 4.45.

In 2021, the right hander found himself on the San Francisco Giants and made 23 appearances, including his first ever MLB start. He got his ERA down to 3.74 that year over 21.2 innings pitched.

More news: Padres Manager, Manny Machado Provide Massive Update on Star's Injury

With just 1.1 innings pitched for the Atlanta Braves in 2022, the following 2023 campaign saw more usage from Jackson as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.

In his 25 appearances up north, he would get his ERA to the best it would prove to be in his MLB career at 2.12 over 29.2 innings pitched. He would also earn a WAR of 0.8, the highest mark in the majors he would post.

Finally, 2024 proved to be the final year for Jackson's demonstrated career. At 36 years old, he gave the Minnesota Twins 26.1 innings in 20 games and hurled 29 strikeouts to just nine walks.

As he leaves the game of baseball with a career MLB ERA of 4.43, he also represented his home country while playing at a high level in Japan and further proved how hard work and resilience can reward you with a long career in baseball.

More news: Padres Make Less Than 10 Percent From TV Deal Than Dodgers

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