Mitch Garver, the catcher/DH who spent a decade in the majors and who was a key part of the 2023 Texas Rangers World Series Championship team, has announced his retirement.
Garver was a 9th round draft pick of the Minnesota Twins in 2013 out of the University of New Mexico. He first broke into the big leagues in 2017 with Minnesota. After the 2021 season, the Texas Rangers acquired him in exchange for Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ronny Henriquez.
Garver had a track record of hitting well when healthy, and of not being able to stay healthy. He played in only 54 games in 2022 for Texas before his season was cut short due to a torn flexor tendon in his right forearm. In 2023, he missed two months early in the season, but was a force upon his return, ultimately slashing .270/.370/.500 in 87 games as the team’s primary DH.
Mitch Garver had what is, to me, one of the most memorable plays of the 2023 postseason. With the Rangers in Houston for Game 6, down 3 games to 2, the Astros scored a run off of Nathan Eovaldi in the bottom of the first to make it a 1-0 game. After losing three straight to Houston in Arlington, with the last one being especially soul-crushing, things felt very, very bad at that point.
Garver led off the second inning, and on the first pitch he saw from Framber Valdez, crushed an opposite-field home run. Tie game. The Minute Maid crowd was silence.
At that moment, I felt as if a weight was lifted. Watching Mitch Garver round the bases, I knew — I knew — that the Rangers were going to the World Series. I had no doubt that they would win the two games in Houston and advance.
The Rangers, controversially at the time, did not make a serious effort to re-sign Garver after the season, and he joined the Seattle Mariners on a 2 year, $24 million deal. Things went poorly for him in Seattle, though, both for that two year stretch, and in 2026, after he re-signed with the club.
Garver ends his major league career with a .229/.325/.432 slash line in 701 games, good for a 110 OPS+, and a career 10.0 bWAR.
Best of luck to Garver in his post-playing days.