The peak of Mitch Garver’s career was relatively brief, but it reached higher heights than most players ever achieve.
Garver won a Silver Slugger Award in 2019, when he slugged 31 home runs for the Minnesota Twins. Traded in March 2022 to the Texas Rangers, Garver helped his new team win the World Series a year later.
That led Garver to sign a two-year, $24 million contract with the Seattle Mariners in his first foray into free agency. Suddenly, after three seasons in Seattle, Garver’s career is over.
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According to Ted Schwerzler of minnesotasportsfan.com, Garver is retiring after appearing in parts of 10 MLB seasons. The decision comes on the heels of a season in which Garver played 50 games, slashing .175/.302/.294, for a disappointing Mariners team.
Garver didn’t even finish the season in Seattle; he was released in August and picked up by the New York Yankees four days later. But Garver never appeared in a big-league game in the Bronx. He played nine games at Triple-A Scranton Wikes-Barre in August, batting 5-for-28 (.179).
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Garver, 35, retires with 110 home runs, 324 RBIs, and a .229/.325/.432 slash line in 701 career games.
The 2019 Twins set an all-time record with 307 home runs, matched in 2023 by the Atlanta Braves. Garver was one of five different players to hit at least 30 homers for that team, and perhaps the least likely. The former ninth-round pick out of New Mexico State had hit seven homers in 125 games to that point in his career. Garver ended the season with more multi-homer games (five) than any catcher in franchise history.
In 2023, Garver’s 14 RBIs in 14 postseason games helped propel the Rangers to their first championship as a franchise.
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