Days after Lance Lynn’s retirement, another former Cardinals All-Star announces his own farewell

Former St. Louis Cardinals star Matt Carpenter announced his retirement on Wednesday. He hasn't played since 2024 and decided to call it a career at 39 years old. He was originally drafted by the Cardinals.

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Carpenter had two stints with the Cardinals and is a bit of a franchise icon. He retires roughly the same time as former teammate Lance Lynn. MLB insider Derrick Goold believes those two will end up on the same team Hall of Fame ballot once eligible.

Carpenter had experienced a struggle for the last few years. He had recorded negative bWAR in three of the past four seasons. The only outlier was a revitalization with the New York Yankees in 2022, where he hit to the tune of 216 OPS+ and 2.7 bWAR in 47 games.

That was the first team he played with outside the Cardinals. After his brief Yankees tenure, the infielder joined the San Diego Padres for a season. He reunited with the Cardinals in 2024, but things didn't go all that well, and he has now called it a career.

Matt Carpenter shares driving factor behind retirement

Matt Carpenter has been in professional baseball since he was drafted out of Texas Christian University in 2009. 16 years later, he's hanging up the cleats.

Matt Carpenter has announced his retirement (Imagn)

In his retirement announcement, Carpenter said (via Sports Spectrum):

“God really just put it on my heart that it was time to come home and be a dad. I’ve got two little kids. I’ve got a third-grade daughter, Kinley. I got a first-grade son, Cannon. And they are just in such fun ages. I just didn’t want to miss out on any more things that you miss as a professional athlete.”

The former third baseman's career ends with a .259 batting average, 179 home runs and 659 RBIs. He recorded 28.7 bWAR across all seasons and had a 122 OPS+ for his career. The slugger also had a career OPS of .814

About the author

Zachary is a journalist covering NFL, Professional Golf, esports, and Major League Baseball at Sportskeeda. He has a degree in writing/editing from Southern Adventist University (USA), and in his spare time, he likes to play games such as Minecraft, Pokémon and Fortnite, or watch sports.

Ever since he was a youth football wide receiver, Zachary has been an avid NFL fan. He loves the Carolina Panthers, with Cam Newton being his all-time favorite player (with respect to the close second, Steve Smith). If you ever meet Zachary, prepare to hear all about how underrated Newton was and how he single-handedly dragged the Panthers to Super Bowl 50.

Zachary is also a big fan of top golfers like Tiger Woods, Wyndham Clark, and Scottie Scheffler. He enjoys watching them and hopes that Woods can return to form soon and win again.

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Edited by Ribin Peter