Veteran right-hander Tyler Clippard took to Instagram yesterday to announce his retirement from professional baseball. A sixteen-year big league veteran, Clippard last played for the Nationals during the 2022 season, making four appearances at the big league level while primarily pitching at the Triple-A level.
“The time has come to announce my retirement from baseball,” Clippard wrote, “Thank you to my parents, my wife, my friends, my teammates, my agent, my coaches and trainers, and everyone else who has supported me along the way!”
Clippard’s professional career began when he was selected in the ninth round of the 2003 draft by the Yankees. He eventually made his big league debut at the age of 22, starting six games for New York in 2007. The audition did not go well, as Clippard posted a 6.33 ERA and 6.68 FIP in 27 innings of work. He was traded to the Nationals that offseason and made just two appearances in the majors in 2008, allowing five runs on 12 hits and 7 walks in 10 1/3 innings of work across his pair of starts.
Clippard move to the bullpen ahead of the 2009 season, and the then 24-year-old righty quickly proved that relief work suited him. Clippard posted a sterling 2.69 ERA while striking out 27.3% of batters faced in 60 1/3 innings of work across 41 appearances. The 2009 season proved to be the start of the most successful stretch of Clippard’s career, as he would dominate toward the back of the bullpen in Washington for years to come.
Over the next five seasons, Clippard posted a 2.63 ERA, 48% better than league average by measure of ERA+, with a 3.24 FIP in 393 1/3 innings of work. Clippard struck out 29% of batters faced while walking 9.1%. He racked up 34 saves across those seasons, primarily coming from the 2012 season when he acted as the club’s closer. The stretch also included both of Clippad’s career All Star appearances. His first All Star nod came in 2011, when the righty posted a phenomenal 1.83 ERA across 88 1/3 innings, good for a whopping 209 ERA+. Clippard struck out 31.6% of batters faced that season while walking just 7.9%, resulting in a career-best 23.7 K-BB%. His 2014 season was nearly as strong, as the then-29-year-old righty posted a 2.18 ERA and 2.75 FIP in 70 1/3 innings of work en route to his second All Star game.
The 2015-17 seasons proved to be tumultuous ones for Clippard, as he suited up for six different teams across the three campaigns. After being traded from the Nationals to Oakland shortly after New Year’s in 2015, Clippard was shipped to the Mets at the trade deadline and signed a two-year deal with the Diamondbacks that offseason before finally returning to his original team in New York via trade at the 2016 deadline. His stay in New York lasted until shortly after the 2017 All Star break, when he was shipped to the White Sox. Chicago flipped Clippard to the Astros just one month later. While Clippard did not appear on the club’s postseason roster, he nonetheless received a World Series ring in 2017 as a member of the Astros’ championship club.
Despite the constant upheaval Clippard faced over those three seasons, his results remained above average: in 205 appearances across the 2015-17 campaigns, Clippard posted a 3.70 ERA (114 ERA+) with a 4.34 FIP and a 25.2% strikeout rate, though his walk rate jumped to 10.6% over that time. Now 33 years old and a veteran of eleven big league seasons, Clippard provided quality innings of relief to Toronto, Cleveland, Minnesota, and Arizona over the next four seasons (3.21 ERA and 3.96 FIP in 182 innings of work) before returning to the Nationals to close out his career.
In all, Clippard’s big league career concludes with a career 3.16 ERA in 807 appearances. The two-time All Star finished 212 games in his career with 74 saves and struck out 956 batters in 872 1/3 innings of work. We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Clippard on his baseball career and wish him all the best as he moves on to his post-playing career.
Texas Outlaw
A very solid and lucrative career!
Braves Butt-Head
Dang I always loved watching him give up Home runs to my Braves……
You will be missed Tyler
filihok
BBH
He allowed 9 in 256 career PA’s
He held the Braves to a .198/.284/.369 slash line which was right at his career average
Braves Butt-Head
That may be true but when he gave up a Home Run they were enjoyable
rememberthecoop
No wonder you call yourself “Butt-Head” lol.
filihok
BBH
I have no doubt and didn’t say otherwise
runningwithnailclippers
Ah yes. The oh-so-rare, amazing, trully thought provoking, bandwagon Braves fan making such an “asstute” and educated comment. Keep up the good work, my dear butt-head, Master of Nothing.
Braves Butt-Head
How am I a bandwagon braves fan exactly?
Because I don’t know all the stats of Tyler Clippard who never played for the Braves?
I was just giving a guy who played 16 years and many of them for a divisional rival some good natured ball busting.
Just so you know I’m going to do the same for other players that were braves foes when they retire as well.
Flanster
Shut up, Beavis!!
Deadguy
Would you like a copy of his butt?
sascoach2003
Solid career. I could see him doing MLBTR chats/writing articles like Tim Dillard used to do. (Long-time user reference…much like “green beans “)
jdgoat
Immaculate grid legend.
filihok
Used him today
spencer99
Same lol
angt222
Enjoy retirement. Always appreciated how he pitched for the Mets during their pennant winning season in 2015.
nukeg
Congrats Tyler, great career. Now you will live forever in the Immaculate Grid universe.
No Soup For Yu!
May not be an official statistic, but Clippard finishes 4th all time in holds with 226 and also has 74 saves. That’s 300 close leads preserved, and though that may seem like just a counting stat, it’s still impressive to be called on 300 times and come through for your team given how volatile relievers are. Congrats on an excellent career by relief pitcher standards!
rememberthecoop
I agree that it sounds impressive; but we would need to see how.many save & hold chances he had and then compare that to some baseline to truly determine if that was good or not.
No Soup For Yu!
Huh? That’s…kind of dumb. He pitched in 807 games and preserved 300 close leads. If you are given the ball in a close game over a third of the time for your entire career that means you were consistently reliable and managers trusted you. We don’t need a baseline to see that. No player gets that many opportunities unless they’re capable of shutting down their opponents. But just to humor you, he blew 58 saves/holds in his career. 300/358 = 84%. That’s a better save percentage than Rollie Fingers, Lee Smith, Bruce Sutter and Goose Gossage.
whyhayzee
Darvish likes Lentil. What can you do?
rememberthecoop
If you think it’s…kind of dumb, then your reading comprehension must be on vacation. You totally missed the point. I was just saying that raw numbers of saves aren’t as meaningful data as if you also gave us his save percentage..
No Soup For Yu!
Players don’t rack up 300 holds/saves unless they have a relatively high conversion rate, so it’s worth bringing up if you want it to seem more impressive, but the reality is if he only converted 50% of his opportunities he wouldn’t have gotten 300 of them. So yeah, it’s kind of dumb.
rememberthecoop
Calling posts dumb just shows someone who doesn’t want to back up their point. You are the dumb one.
No Soup For Yu!
Gonna cry?
oscar gamble
Congratulations on a wonderful career and earning a full MLB pension!
DarkSide830
One of the best setup guys ever. Respect.
rememberthecoop
Here! Here!
hossmandu
This guy’s BR transactions list is ridiculous. The definition of perseverance.
$4o+ million.
Good for him and his family..
mikesciosciastragicillness
Hell of a career.
sfes
I’m pretty sure I remember watching his MLB debut – a Sunday night ESPN game vs. the Mets. My Yanks fan boss was calling him “the Yankee Clippard” the next morning. Congratulations Tyler and best wishes
gorav114
40 million for 872 innings is not a bad way to make a living. $45,870 +/- an inning
sascoach2003
Where do I sign? LOL. Too be young and talented again (or ever)
stgpd
Nice job Tyler. Good luck going forward
whyhayzee
BMI = 25.0
Long successful career with few injuries.
These big oversized mugs go down constantly.
HalosHeavenJJ
Pretty symbolic of the modern game; at least for relievers.
Lots of teams over the years. millions of dollars earned without being a starter or generally a closer. Traded for playoff runs.
Overall good career with plenty of earnings.
jesseglaubitz
Me and my dad were at his big league debut.
drewnats33
Other Nats trade acquisitions are more heralded (Trea Turner, Denard Span, Wilson Ramos, Gio Gonzalez, CJ Abrams) but Clip amassed 10.0 BWAR while wearing the curly W.
He was a good get – a valuable member of contending teams.
Slow day at work
He worked at Walgreens?
Slider_withcheese
Cool players retire with a tweet, not an IG post.
Hired Gun 23
Enjoy a great retirement, Ty Clip!
Yankeesforever
Tyler has already invested in his future by coming out with a lighter fuel with his name on it.
Niekro floater
Dude got PAID as middle reliever.
baked mcbride
Why Clippard was never fattened up for a Hobbit role in a Lord of the Rings film I’ll never understand…