Andrelton Simmons formally announced his retirement on Tuesday via an Instagram post by ISE baseball, capping off 11 seasons with four different teams. As a member of the Chicago Cubs, Simmons, 34, made his MLB debut in July 2022.
After selecting Simmons from Western Oklahoma State College in the second round of the 2010 MLB Draft, he began his career with the Atlanta Braves. Two years later, in ’12, he hit.289 in 49 games to make his MLB debut with Atlanta. With a career-high 17 home runs and 59 RBIs in 2013, Simmons made his public debut. He also won his first career Gold Glove and placed 14th in the NL MVP vote.
Simmons signed a seven-year, $58 million contract extension with Atlanta as a result of his performance, which set a new record for players with fewer than two years of service time.
After hitting.265 in 2015 and winning his second career Gold Glove in 2014, Simmons was moved to the Angels over the summer as the Braves began their rebuild. In 2017, Simmons had his greatest season as an Angel, hitting.278 with 14 home runs and 69 RBIs. In addition, he was worth 20 outs over average, which enabled him to win three Gold Gloves in his career. In addition to winning his fourth Gold Glove in 2018, he registered a.292 average and 75 RBIs, earning him down-ballot MVP votes for the second consecutive year
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After battling injuries in 2019 and 2020 (hitting.271 in 133 games during those two seasons), he played for the Twins in 2021 and the Cubs in 2022. In the 2023 World Baseball Classic, the Curacao native went 2-for-11 while playing for the Netherlands. Over the course of his 11-year career, he amassed a batting average of.263 in more than 4,400 at-bats.
With 201 defensive runs saved in his career, Simmons holds the record for the most career defensive runs saved of any shortstop in Major League Baseball. He will be remembered as one of the greatest defensive shortstops in MLB history, with four seasons with a DRS value in excess of 20.
