Why Angels’ Kevin Pillar Is Ready to Retire Despite Major Rebound

Los Angeles Angels star Kevin Pillar is currently enjoying a comeback in his career after a rough start to the season with the Chicago White Sox. After spending 10 years in the league and over 1,000 hits, he appears to be headed toward retirement after the baseball season ends.

In 17 games with the White Sox, he was batting .160, but after being released by them and picked up by the Angels, he had a .299 batting average with six home runs and 26 RBIs. He did not want his career to end in a negative way like it did with Chicago, as he told Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports that he had seen “better players than me maybe play one year too many.”

“I’ve seen some of my good friends and teammates, who were much better players than me, play a year too long,” Pillar said. “I think it would be pretty cool to play really well and have people be curious about why you don’t want to play anymore, not that the game put you out of the game.”

“Not everybody really gets that opportunity in this sport,” Pillar continued. “I came pretty close to not getting that opportunity. I don’t know what the future holds for me, even this year, but if I can keep doing what I’m doing and have a really good offensive season, maybe it would be a good thing to leave people wanting more. Maybe it would be cool for people to think, ‘Why wouldn’t you want to do this again instead of disappearing?’”

Pillar believes it would be best to retire from the Angels after a productive period

Pillar has been in the MLB for 10 seasons, as we’ve said before, and has played for nine different teams, including his current club, Los Angeles. But the 35-year-old seems content with where he wants to end his career. He spent the majority of his career with the Toronto Blue Jays, where he spent the first seven seasons of his career.

On those Toronto teams, he played with José Bautista, who at one point was one of the best hitters in baseball, only to see his career end on several different teams with no consistency. Pillar used this example, saying that because of the way his time in the major leagues ended, he was no longer seen as “the same fearful hitter he once was.”

“There are people whose lasting impression of him bounces from team to team,” Pillar said, “and he’s not the same fearful hitter he once was. … Wouldn’t it be a cool thing if he came out, maybe at the top of his game, and people thought, ‘Man, he could still play.’”

Pillar says it’s a luxury to be able to retire on your own terms in baseball

Pillar explained that retirement in baseball is a luxury for most players, even if they were productive at one point, but they could lose their job and not find work on a team. The baseball player explained that there is an important distinction to be made with players, because some may “say they’re retiring, when in reality they can’t find work.”

“You can’t say, ‘Is he retiring or is it because he can’t get a job?’ Not many people really have the option to retire,” Pillar told Nightengale. “People like (former Astros outfielder) Michael Brantley chose to retire. If he wanted to play, everybody in baseball knows he would have had a job. He has the option to retire. Not many people have the option to do that. They say they’re retiring, when in reality they can’t get a job.”

While it seems pretty certain that Pillar will retire after this season, as evidenced by his previous comments, there is still some doubt because he loves the game. The Angels center fielder even said he is 98 percent sure and would consider it if an offer came early in the offseason, but stressed that putting his family through “another offseason of unknowns” is not healthy.

“In my heart, I’m 98 percent sure,” said Pillar, who is married with two children, ages 6 and 4. “Obviously things change, but I think going through another offseason of the unknown and the kind of stress that it brings to me and my family is not healthy. If I’m lucky enough to get a phone call early in the offseason and someone wants to give me money and a job, that’s going to be a conversation I’m going to have with my family.”

Even as he contemplates retirement, Pillar “will be at peace”

Pillar should be considered an example of impressive success, as he has been productive in the league, being selected in the 32nd round of the 2011 MLB Draft, where he was picked 979th overall. The fact that he has made a name for himself in baseball and has been a part of many teams shows the passion he has for the game.

Angels general manager Perry Minasian spoke about Pillar and his skills, knowing him well since he was with the Blue Jays when they drafted the outfielder. With all the roles he’s played with different teams in the major leagues, he calls Pillar “unbelievable.”

“He’s a great guy, great composition, he makes the guys around him better,” Minasian said. “He’s been through the good times and the bad, he’s been an everyday player, he’s been a bench player. A platoon player. He’s been unbelievable.”

Despite all the talk of a possible retirement, Pillar is still in the midst of an impressive season with the Angels, especially with all the uncertainty he’s faced throughout his career. For now, Pillar will be content to live life blindly and “enjoy” his free time while he still has it.

“But I’m just going to enjoy it, play for the love of the game and I’ll be at peace no matter what,” Pillar told Nightengale.

Regardless, the Angels are 37-51 this season, which puts them in second-to-last place in the AL West as they look to clinch their current series against the Chicago Cubs in the deciding game on Sunday afternoon.