Veteran right-hander Dylan Bundy hasn’t pitched professionally in nearly a year, and in an interview with MASN’s Roch Kubatko this morning revealed that he has retired from baseball. The veteran right-hander pitched in parts of eight seasons in the majors with the Orioles, Angels, and Twins.
Drafted fourth overall by Baltimore out of high school in the 2011 draft, Bundy was long a consensus top prospect in the sport. He flew threw the minor leagues to make his big league debut in September of 2012 at the age of 19, throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings across two appearances in the brief cup of coffee. Unfortunately, injuries would keep him from returning to the big leagues for several years after that. Bundy underwent Tommy John surgery back in 2013, and rehab cost him that whole season as well as the first half of 2014. Bundy then made just eight starts in 2015 due to shoulder issues.
The right-hander finally re-emerged at the big league level in 2016 at the age of 23. He split time between the Orioles’ starting rotation and bullpen throughout his rookie season, pitching to an above-average 4.07 ERA and striking out 21.9% of batters faced. That performance was enough to earn Bundy a rotation spot entering the 2017 season, and he delivered a solid back-of-the-rotation season for the Orioles with a 4.24 ERA and a 4.32 FIP in 169 2/3 innings of work. The highlight of Bundy’s 2017 campaign came on August 29, when he struck out 12 batters in a complete game shutout of the Mariners that saw him surrender just one hit and two walks.
Bundy was the club’s Opening Day starter in 2018 and remained with the Orioles through the end of the 2019 season as a dependable starting pitcher, ultimately posting a roughly league average 4.67 ERA with a 4.75 FIP and 602 strikeouts during his tenure in Baltimore. Bundy’s time with the Orioles came to an end in December of 2019, when he was traded to the Angels in a deal that sent a package of four youngsters to Baltimore, including current Orioles starter Kyle Bradish.
While the 2020 season was cut to just 60 games by the COVID-19 Pandemic, Bundy nonetheless went on to post the best season of his career during the abbreviated season. In 11 starts with the Angels, the righty pitched to a strong 3.29 ERA (138 ERA+) with an excellent 27% strikeout rate in 65 2/3 innings of work. The strong performance earned Bundy a ninth place finish in AL Cy Young award voting that year, and his sterling 2.95 FIP ranked behind only Shane Bieber, Zack Greinke, and Framber Valdez among AL starting pitchers.
The strong performance during the shortened season earned Bundy Opening Day starter honors for the second time in his career, but the righty struggled badly throughout the 2021 campaign and eventually found himself moved to the bullpen in late June. After returning to the swing role in which he started his MLB career, Bundy performed a bit better with a decent. 4.21 ERA in nine appearances (five starts) through the rest of the summer before his season came to a premature end in late August thanks to a shoulder strain.
Bundy went on to pitch for the Twins in 2022 after signing a one-year deal with the club. He made 29 starts for Minnesota, though he struggled to a relatively pedestrian 4.80 ERA and 4.66 FIP as his strikeout rate dipped to just 15.8%. That left Bundy to sign a minor league deal with the Mets during the 2022-23 offseason, though he made just six starts for Triple-A Syracuse before being placed on the injured list in May of that year and eventually being released from the Mets that July.
In his interview with Kubatko, Bundy discussed his decision to step away from the game, noting that “nothing was feeling good” during his stint in the Mets organization last year as he sat just 87-88 with his fastball, which had averaged 91.7 mph throughout his big league career. After departing the Mets last summer, Bundy decided to stay home for the rest of the 2023 season and while he considered returning to pitching during the offseason, he ultimately decided to step away from the game. Kubatko added that Bundy has now begun work as a real estate agent for Ary Land Company in his hometown of Sperry, Oklahoma.
In all, Bundy pitched 910 2/3 innings in 190 appearances across eight big league seasons. He finishes his career with 852 strikeouts, 54 wins, and a 4.74 ERA. We at MLBTR congratulate Bundy on a fine playing career and wish him all the best in retirement.
Chris from NJ
The Ben McDonald of his generation. Although I’m pretty sure McDonald was drafted out of college. Both had high expectations and never really lived up to them.
Ted
Eh, lots of first round picks never make the majors. Bundy had a moderately long MLB career and received Cy Young votes.
Card AG
Not sure that money top ten picks don’t though. Most at least make it
danumd87 2
Less than 50% make it
Chris from NJ
I agree lots of first rounders don’t flourish in the majors. Both McDonald and Bundy both reached the majors and had about the same career. McDonald definitely had some better seasons. Bundy did receive some Cy Young votes but that was in a shortened season. I’m not saying that that doesn’t count for something, it’s just not the same as a full season.
Os1995
Only 15% of top 10 picks ever achieve a 2 war season and Bundy did it 3 times. As long as a top 10 pick is being a solid contributor then its a successful pick.
LordD99
Fans always have the weirdest takes when players retire.
rememberthecoop
You could just say that fans have the weirdest takes period.
Fever Pitch Guy
coop – Sometimes the writers here have the weirdest takes too.
“Bundy nonetheless went on to post the best season of his career”
Only 11 starts that year, and he faced exactly ONE team that didn’t finish the season with a losing record.
I cannot wait for that damn joke of a 2020 season to be in the rear view mirror.
Monkey’s Uncle
You say weirdest, I say uninformed. Potato, po-tah-to.
hiflew
And yet when this happens people always blame the athlete for not living up to expectations and never blame themselves for setting unrealistic expectations in the first place. Dylan Bundy had a fine career and deserves to be celebrated today. Or at the very least he shouldn’t be demeaned.
JerseyShoreScore
Who knew? I thought he was already retired…
3768902
Good for that dude. Made 30 mil and is still in early 30s.
Monkey’s Uncle
He’ll always have that time in high school when he scored 4 touchdowns in one game for Polk High School.
BigBallsLongBat
God you’re old
Old York
Great career. He’s the 1,187th best starting pitcher in MLB history.
Velo
Yes, MAJOR LEAGUE.
Johnny utah
Once the #2 prospect in all of baseball
Sometimes things just dont pan out
Fever Pitch Guy
Johnny – And yet some owners continue to give out massive longterm contracts to players who have experienced little or no MLB success.
Johnny utah
Bec they’re worried if the prospect gets too big they’ll want more than 8 yr/100 they’ll want 13 yrs/300 so tms take the risk early on to potentially save later. Makes sense especially small market tms
BirdieMan
Hitters retired him a long time ago.
baseball99
Potential and stuff were there to be one of the best to ever do it, injuries suck!
tuck 2
Alas if he had come through the current Os system it might have been different. That Os regime made him abandon his best pitch to protect his arm and ironically his career was ruined by injuries.
Ben was simply burned out by his college coach and was never the same after his last CWS.
That said both had better major league careers than most.
Big whiffa
Mark him off the list then !
YankeesBleacherCreature
Good interview with Bundy. Retiring with a plan and no regrets.
stymeedone
A plan, yes. No regrets? Only he knows.
Susannah
He had so much potential when drafted with heavy fastball and great curve. He was never the same after Tommy John Surgery. He is a classic case that not all pitchers comeback TJ surgery successfully.
I am sure the Orioles are glad that Dylan Bundy trade returned Kyle Bradish.
danumd87 2
Yup. Bundy was a bust but he turned into Bradish who would have been well worth that first round pick.
Jacksson13
In related news….
Al Bundy announced his retirement
as did
Sven Hunkstrom
BigBallsLongBat
Hack
This one belongs to the Reds
In most cases, retirement means no one offered them a contract in some time. Very few choose when to hang up the spikes.
its_happening
Bundy needed that LF fence pushed back during his O’s run.
nosake
“Rehab” was mentioned in the article but not the kind of rehab Bundy ought to seek.
Buccoprojectory
Al bundys brother
BigBallsLongBat
Bet you thought of that all of 5 seconds.
Chicks dig bunting
He was one of the 2 percent that make it to the show.and got paid
Olericat
An underachiever, he was…