The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- Right-hander Clayton Blackburn announced his retirement from baseball, as per his Instagram page. Originally a 16th-round pick for the Giants in 2011, Blackburn posted a 3.46 ERA, 8.2 K/9, and 4.05 K/BB rate over 751 career minor league frames, and he cracked Baseball Prospectus’ top-100 prospects list prior to the 2013 season. That promise didn’t result in any official MLB appearances, however, as Blackburn received call-ups to the Giants in 2016 and the Rangers in 2017 but he never got into a game, thus making him a so-called “phantom Major Leaguer.” After undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2018, Blackburn has decided to hang up his cleats at age 26. We at MLBTR wish Blackburn the best in his post-playing career.
Sad to see him hang em up so early. Prior to the TJ, he seemed destined to make the show.
3.46 career era in the minors is nothing to be ashamed of. Maybe he will get healthy and get motivated again
Reading an article like this always makes me sad. Like Moonlight Graham in “Field of Dreams”… it must kill players to get THAT close to their dream and yet not quite make it. 🙁