Yankees first baseman Jay Bruce announced that he was retiring from baseball (via Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic). The match against the rays of today will be the final of Bruce’s 14-year major league career.
‘After 14 incredible seasons, I decided to make the very difficult decision to retire at baseball. All I ever wanted to be ‘when I grew up’ was a baseball player, and to say I had to live out my dream would be an understatement of a lifetime. This sport has given me more than I could ever ask for,Bruce wrote as part of his announcement (the full statement is available at the link above).
Bruce, who was a first-round pick for the Reds in 2005, would quickly become one of the sport’s most promising young talents. He was a top-100 prospect in each of his first three years in pro-ball, eventually becoming Baseball America’s first baseball player to enter the 2008 season. Bruce made his biggest league debut in May of that season, scoring a decent .254 / .314 / .453 series.
Two years later, Bruce established himself as the mediocre bat that many judges expected him to become. Between 2010 and 13, the left-handed slugger achieved a very productive .262 / .337 / .489 (119 wRC +), earning All-Star picks in 2011-12 and a few Silver Slugger awards and less. support for MVP ballots in 2012-13. Bruce dropped off a bit in 2014-15, but he jumped back offensively in 2016 and earned his third and final All-Star pick.
Most of Bruce’s career was spent with the Reds, but he continued to produce for a few years after leaving Cincinnati. He scored a career-high 36 runs during a 2017 split between the Mets and Indians, and he scored 26 homers just as well as in 2019. He was an above-average hit during his time with the Mets, as well as in his short text in Cleveland and Seattle.
Unfortunately, Bruce’s production declined as he entered his thirties, with increasing struggle to reach an acceptable cut. He did not do well with the Phillies last season and had to make a minor agreement with the Yankees over the off-season. A Spring Training Injury to Luke Voit gave Bruce the opportunity to start the year as first baseman in New York, but he stumbled to a .118 / .231 / .235 line in a Yankee series.
Nevertheless, Bruce has had a very strong career in his last few seasons. The Texas native does not include the stats he may build up in this afternoon’s game, with a .244 / .314 / .467 cut across 6642 MLB records, making him six percentage points better than the league average hit tailored to weighted runs. created plus.
Bruce had five separate seasons in which he was at least fifteen points above average on the points ladder. The respected veteran had 1455 hits, including 319 home runs, 839 times scored and 951 runs in. Altogether, Bruce was worth about 20 wins as the substitute, earning just $ 103 million in career earnings, according to Baseball Reference. MLBTR congratulates Bruce on his good career and wishes him well in the future.
More to come.