Veteran slugger Kendrys Morales has decided to call it a career, he tells Marly Rivera of ESPN Deportes (Spanish-language link). He’ll retire after 13 seasons in the big leagues.
At his best, Morales was a high-quality threat from both sides of the plate. But the first baseman/DH had a fair number of peaks and valleys over the years. Ultimately, he finishes with 5,357 plate appearances of .265/.327/.453 hitting and 213 career long balls.
Morales’s best season came in 2009 with the Angels, when he launched 34 home runs and finished fifth in the American League MVP voting. He was similarly productive in the ensuing season until a major high turned into a brutal low. Morales shattered his ankle and lower leg on home plate after launching a walk-off grand slam. He missed over a hundred games in 2010 and all of the 2011 season.
Fortunately, Morales was able to bounce back and return to being quite a productive hitter. After a quality 2012 showing, he was shipped to the Mariners for Jason Vargas. With another good year in the books, Morales hit the open market in search of a big multi-year deal. He ended up becoming a qualifying offer cautionary tale, waiting until mid-season to sign with the Twins — who ended up dealing him back to Seattle when things didn’t go as hoped.
Despite the rough 2014 season, the Royals took a shot on Morales on a two-year deal. He produced at a 119 OPS+ clip in K.C., identical to the mark he carried over his six seasons with the Halos. Morales’s ensuing three-year, $33MM deal with the Blue Jays didn’t work out so well. He was only an average offensive performer in Toronto. The organization ended up eating most of the deal’s final year in a trade with the Athletics, who ultimately passed Morales on to the Yankees in what proved a miserable 2019 season for the veteran.
Now, at 36 years of age, Morales won’t attempt yet another bounceback. Instead, he says, he intends to spend more time with his family. MLBTR wishes Morales all the best in retirement.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
More like Kendrys Less-Play-es.
Congrats on a solid career.
more like “Let’s Play Less”..
I always liked him as an Angel. Even before they added the “S” to his name and he was known as Kendry Morales when he first came up. . He just was never quite the same after the walk off injury..
All and all, a good career. Far better than most can accomplish. I wish him a happy life in retirement.
A 13-year major leaguer, career 111 OPS+, $70M earned, member of the 2015 World Series championship team. That beats about 99.99999% of pro players. I’ll take it. 🙂
Bout time. Oh well. I’m just a salty A’s fan. He had a really promising career until that injury.
I’ll never forget when he slipped in home plate after hitting a walk off haha
This comment says a lot about you as a person.
Yeah, smoke55 is a regular Mary Lou Henner.
Mary Lou Henner? Do you still drive a horse and buggy?
Yes it does.Good luck KM you were a real pro.
He didn’t “slip in home plate”, he was actually jumping up and down on home plate celebrating with his teammates when his leg broke. Facts matter.
never forget the walk off grandslam then him injuring himself.
lol yep….broke his leg jumping on home plate after hitting that walk off slam. He was in the middle of having another great season for the Angels when that happened and the injury kept him out all of 2011 as well. Had a solid career despite the injury.
I remember being so happy when he hit it then being concerned once he hit home plate. That home run turned out to be a disaster.
He will always have that Blue Jays home run streak.
The only reason that the Jays signed his was because they were embarrassed that they lost Edwin. They rushed, signed Kendrys, who wasn’t a bad player but was basically just a DH, and then realized a couple years down the road that the signing wasn’t exactly the smartest idea and then they dumped him on the A’s for nothing.
Friendly reminder that they offered Edwin more money than any other team before deciding to move on.
Also, by not signing Edwin they got a comp pick which turned into their top prospect Nate Pearson who looks like he has the potential to be an ace for the next decade. Think that worked out okay for Toronto.
The mistake was signing Kendrys when the Jays are entering 2017 and should have thought about opening the DH spot for Donaldson and Tulo to DH once a week. It was the right price on the wrong team at that time.
The next mistake was immediately signing Pearce after Morales followed by a 36-year old Bautista, who really needed to DH.
The only worse injury at home plate was Ray Fosse. Both totally unnecessary.
Probably the most costly grand slam in the history of baseball.
Buck Martinez had a bad one too.
Indeed. Unfortunate for Ray Fosse, Pete Rose didn’t have a off button even for a exhibition game like the All Star game.
Kendrys had a walk off HR that he couldn’t even walk off from. Kendrys managed some pretty decent years, but he looked like he was destined to be a star until the injury
Fosse blocked the plate, Rose started to slide head first then saw he was in the base path. Yeah, it was an exhibition all-star game, but he put himself in that position when it was unnecessary. And players took the game more seriously back then as a point of pride.
Rose was a tool, and that was the action of a tool. Personally, I’m quite happy Rose is banned from the hall, even if it wasn’t for ending a players career in a f”ing exhibition game.
Thanks for the memories, Kendrys. Sorry about calling you Kendry for the first five years. Also about the leg.
I was just thinking about him last night wondering if he might pop up somewhere on a minor league deal. Pretty solid hitter and I know a lot of the young Latin players loved him when he was with the Jays; maybe he’ll wind up as a hitting coach or something one day. That wild homer streak that he went on in 2018 with the Jays has been one of the bright sports of the past few seasons. Best of luck to him.
Great career, enjoy retirement!
The home plate jump effectively ended the Angels 2010 season, Morales’ season and some of his career as well as forcing Anaheim to make a splash on Pujols down the road. Huge ripple effect after Morales broke his leg. His career could’ve been much better had he avoided that.
Still a nice career.
Lmao.. imagine thinking the Morales injury was what initiated the Pujols signing instead of the lucrative tv contract that Artie brokered.
The comment section never fails for entertainment
Yes, there wouldn’t have been a need for Pujols with Morales tearing the cover off the ball the way he did in 2009-2010. Angels would have splashed at a different position and the Angels would have given Texas more problems back then.
Your comment is ignorant and shows you have no clue what the team was like or the dynamics of major league baseball. Angels would have brought in a star, just not at first base. Now go back to sleep.
Again.. there was no way in hell that Pujols would’ve been signed if he didnt get the tv deal.. and vice versa because fox sports wanted to showcase a star. At $3 billion it dwarfed Pujols’ $250 million.
Your ignorance is that you think Artie can just magically add Pujols to the payroll without growing the franchise first.
Please do the research. Just go to Google and type “Angels tv deal”. You’ll see pujols linked to the tv deal with the 2nd link down.
I know you probably wont do it because of pride but I’m telling you it is what it is
He was a huge driving force in that incredible 2009 season. One of the Angels best international signings. If he doesn’t get injured, the Angels franchise is substantially different.
Hope he enjoys his well earned retirement.
He was becoming a star before that injury, while he did come back and had productive seasons after that he was never the same since that freak accident
Still don’t know why the M’s didn’t trade him in 2013 when he was good and they were bad and then traded FOR him in 2014 when he was awful and the M’s were great.
Let’s not forget his 4.50 career ERA!
I’m sad to see Big Ken retire… I enjoyed watching him when he was apart of the Angels and he quickly became one of my favorite players. Like much of you have mentioned that he wasn’t quite the same after that terrible ankle injury. I think that he had a bit of a renaissance when he signed with the Royals in 2015 and help them win the World Series.. Of course there will be some who disagree with me that he had a career renaissance. Though, I’m glad I was able to see him play in a Royals uniform for a couple years. Enjoy your retirement good sir!
Class act by all accounts and a good player for a good chunk of his career. Wish he could have done more in Toronto but, even then, he was a good guy to have around. A respectable career all in all – hopefully he enjoys retirement!
phew! he can now stop revenging on the angels!
When he came back from his carry-off grand slam injury, at some point early in the season I had the TV on but couldn’t hear the audio. They replayed the video of the injury again… and I thought from the poorly written caption that he had come back, and done it all over again after hitting another homer.
Happy retirement, Kendrys.
He almost broke the consecutive home run game record with Toronto. One away at 7games straight I think.
I wore his number on my back from little league thru college . my favorite player!
The stomp heard round the world 🙁
Homer in game 5 of ALDS against Astros in ‘15 was awesome, started skipping like a little kid immediately.
Again.. there was no way in hell that Pujols would’ve been signed if he didnt get the tv deal.. and vice versa because fox sports wanted to showcase a star. At $3 billion it dwarfed Pujols’ $250 million.
Your ignorance is that you think Artie can just magically add Pujols to the payroll without growing the franchise first.
Please do the research. Just go to Google and type “Angels tv deal”. You’ll see pujols linked to the tv deal with the 2nd link down.
I know you probably wont do it because of pride but I’m telling you it is what it is
Best of luck and health to Kendrys. A valuable part of the 15 Royals and by all accounts a great guy and great teammate.
Yanks will come a calling again at some point this season.
The Ultimate Ray’s killer. Always wanted you on our team but we were too cheap to get ya. Great Career!!!
Always hate to see a player injured. Mickey Mantle. ‘s career effected by that outfield drain cover.
Great guy.
Great Hitter.
Stayed a year too long but was getting paid so what the heck.
Have a good retirement.
Cheers Kendry!