Eight-year MLB veteran Kevin Plawecki announced his retirement on social media today. Plawecki’s announcement comes shortly after the Padres revealed their minor league coaching staff for 2025, where Plawecki is listed as an instructor for the club’s Arizona Complex League team.
“As I close the chapter on a playing career I’m excited for what the future holds. I still know I have a lot to give this game which has blessed me with so much,” Plawecki said in his announcement. “I look forward to joining the Padres as a coach in minor league player development this upcoming season. Thank you for all the love and support over the years! The best is yet to come! See y’all at a stadium near you!”
The 33-year-old was selected 35th overall by the Mets back in 2012 and made his big league debut with the club during the 2015 season. Plawecki was a consensus top-100 prospect at the time of his debut but struggled to hit at the major league level, with a .211/.287/.285 slash line in 121 games between the 2015 and ’16 campaigns. His offense took a step forward over the next two campaigns, though he remained a part-time player as he slashed .225/.330/.379 with a roughly league average 96 wRC+. Those four partial seasons concluded Plawecki’s time with the Mets, as he was traded to Cleveland prior to the 2019 season in a swap that saw New York acquire Walker Lockett and Sam Haggerty. Unfortunately for Plawecki, he struggled to hit with his new club and was non-tendered during the 2019-20 offseason.
That led to Plawecki signing with the Red Sox prior to the 2020 season, which quickly proved to be the most successful year of his career. While the catcher was shelved by a hamstring strain and a COVID-19 diagnosis that limited him to just 24 games during the shortened 60-game campaign, Plawecki hit quite well when he was healthy enough to take the field. The then-29-year-old posted a strong .341/.393/.463 slash line in 89 trips to the plate for the club that year as they made it all the way to the ALCS. Plawecki remained with the Red Sox for two additional seasons afterwards as a back-up to Christian Vázquez. He posted solid results in 2021 but took a step back in 2022, hitting just .217/.287/.287 in 60 games before being designated for assignment late in the year.
Plawecki was picked up by the Rangers late in the 2022 season and appeared in three games for the club, which ultimately proved to be the final three games of his big league career. The veteran bounced between the Rangers, Nationals, and Padres organizations on minor league deals in 2023 before spending the entire 2024 season in the Padres’ minor league system but never made it back to the majors after 2022. He walks away from his playing days a career .235/.313/.342 hitter across 449 MLB games, with 298 hits (including 22 homers) on his big league resume.
We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Plawecki on a fine career and wish him all the best as he begins the next chapter of his life as a coach in the Padres organization.
Could still probably outhit Maldonado, who is a true defense-only catcher
Collecting coaches is this team allowed to make an actual major league signing?
Dodgers sign Sasaki and Pads counter with Plawecki, another coach?!
Aye, this offseason has been brutal.
tow – Don’t despair, coaches can be traded for players.
Ya never know!!
Welcome to the farm, KP!
Go Pads
Player development, I wonder if he will be assigned to a specific team or work with multiple.
We’ll see, my general understanding was he’d stay in Arizona but idk for sure!
Great catcher, on behalf of Red Sox Nation thanks for the memories Kev!
Fever, am I reading the story right? Sox finished last in 20 as I recall yet the article says they made the ALCS? I might be misreading it as sometimes the brain plays tricks on you and you keep reading it the same way. Anyway, I thought he was fine as a part-time player but if used too often, his game became exposed.
dewey – Ha, you just beat me to it! Yeah that’s a big boo-boo but Nick is a rookie so we should cut him some slack.
Kev was very popular in the clubhouse and a true leader, most of the Red Sox players were quite upset when he was let go.
Thanks Fever. Been sick and thought I was reading it wrong…
Plaw was a nice backup / 1/2 time C for good and bad Mets teams towards the end of the Wilpon era. It was too bad he was dealt for Lockett and Haggerty, given that wrt the latter the Mets failed to recognize he was a very useful player against LHP: .263/355/452/807 career, 2 WAR in 477 PA despite getting more than half his PA against RHP.
A solid waiver claim by the M’s.
Good luck to Kevin. Rumor is he’ll be managing your team some day.
Isn’t it about time for another Dodger rumor? It’s been a little while…
“Retirement announces Kevin Plawecki”
In all seriousness, solid backup Catcher and clubhouse guy when he was with the Sox. I could definitely see him managing one day
Rsox – I’m not sure if there’s a website that can confirm this, but it seems like a huge percentage of managers are former catchers. Makes sense though, catchers are highly intelligent and team leaders which is why you always want to hold onto the good ones.
Quick Google says about 21% of all MLB managers were catchers, the highest percentage of all position players.. So yes there’s something to that. (and a reddit post from 6 years ago said half the managers at the time were former catchers)
kellin – Thanks for confirming!
All the more reason why I really hope Varitek replaces Cora, the sooner the better. If not Varitek then Ross.
Fever, with that contract signed, the time to have replaced Cora already ran out.
While probably incomplete the best i could find is from 1901-1981 73 Managers, or 21.6% were Catchers at one point or another. Since then 61 others that served as Manager (either full-time or interim) were Catchers at some point. Out of 554 Managers all-time, 134 played Catcher or 24.18%
I just went through all of the current managers since I have no life. What I found was:
13 are former catchers (43.33%)
9 are former infielders (30%)
5 are former outfielders (16.66%)
2 are former pitchers (6.66%)
1 (Mike Shildt) never played past high school (3.33%)
The fact that he isn’t a member of the Red Sox’s management with that name alone is criminal he has the most Boston name you can have.
Braves – Sarcasm?
What? Not Kennedy?
Asked by a Southern Californian…
Wow the last place Red Sox in 2020 made it all the way to the ALCS?
Overachievers
Drop – 2020 was such a comical year.
DJ LeMahieu led the majors with a .364 BA (he hasn’t hit higher than .268 since then)
Voit led the majors in homers with 22 (he had a 9.4 HR%) and left MLB 3 years later.
JBJ had a career high .283 BA and then hit .176 over the next 3 years before leaving MLB.
Lamet had a 2.09 ERA in 69 innings and since then has pitched to a 6.63 ERA.
Kyle Lewis won Rookie of the Year and was out of the majors just 3 years later.
Instead of an asterisk next to 2020 in the recordbooks, it should have an “LOL”
Kyle Lewis. Never got past that knee injury. Lamet injured too. Thought they were both gonna be something.
Not so comical for all the people who died….
Whaaaaaaat? A MLBTR article with a misprint/typo? Never!
Easily the Padres best option at catcher right now….
Boiler Up, Kevin, you wore the Black and Old Gold well. Us Purdue alumni are proud of you!
Plawecki is a baseball rat’s baseball rat. The guy lives, eats, breathes, and sleeps baseball. He is going to be a great manager someday soon. Great job by AJ giving him a chance to teach the young Padres players.
Good luck, Kevin. I always root for fellow catchers.
Padres are going to need him to suit up sometime this summer