“It’s right here. I’m hanging up my cleats. From an 18-year-old draft decide in Colorado to a ’vet’ in Anaheim — there are some things I’ll always remember. Getting THAT name to the massive leagues in September 2008. Wow. My world was spinning. My first ’you’ve been traded to Houston’ coronary heart pounding name.
The sensation of bliss whereas listening to the phrases ’All-Star’. By no means knew what it felt wish to be that man! Endlessly grateful. Soaking moist and freezing on the sphere with tears in my eyes after profitable the World Sequence in Chicago. The consolation of calling St. Louis house and being a Pink Fowl. Right now is a kind of moments the place you metaphorically step down out of your throne with a standing ovation, a tip of the cap, and the world stops spinning. I’m largely proud to look again at my profession figuring out that I performed the sport the precise method and did my finest to make a constructive affect past the win.
Denver, Houston, Chicago, St. Louis and Anaheim. My household, mates, teammates and employees. Thanks for 14 years. I gave you my all.”
Fowler will go down as probably the greatest 14th-round picks within the sport’s historical past. (The one 14th-rounders with extra profession WAR are Dave Parker, Bob Welch, Rick Honeycutt and Keith Foulke, for these protecting rating.) Chosen out of Milton Excessive College in Georgia again in 2004, Fowler was within the Majors 4 years later, having fun with a 13-game cup of espresso with the Rockies that yr earlier than cementing himself as an enormous leaguer the next season when he slashed .266/.363/.406 in 135 video games and landed an eighth-place end in Nationwide League Rookie of the Yr voting.
Over the subsequent eight years, Fowler averaged 541 plate appearances and 130 video games per season, batting a mixed .269/.368/.443 with the Rockies, Astros, Cubs and Cardinals. Twice traded alongside the best way, Fowler went from Colorado to Houston and from Houston to Chicago earlier than reaching free company.
It initially appeared as if Fowler’s cease in Chicago would final only one yr. He slashed .250/.346/.411 in a career-high 156 video games whereas tallying a career-best 690 plate appearances earlier than setting out into free company. Stories of an settlement with the Orioles emerged however have been shot down by each events, and Fowler saved quiet till gorgeous his teammates and the baseball world at giant when he walked into Cubs spring coaching with a brand new one-year contract to return for a second season (Bally’s Kelly Crull tweeted video of Fowler’s gorgeous return on the time).
That accident reinstalled Fowler atop the Cubs’ lineup — the identical place through which he discovered himself eight months later when he turned the one participant to ever lead off Sport 7 of the World Sequence with a house run. The 2016 season proved to be the perfect of Fowler’s profession, as he batted .276/.393/.447, made his lone All-Star look, and hit .250/.280/.444 with three house runs and 5 doubles all through a 17-game march to the Cubs’ curse-breaking World Sequence victory in Cleveland.
Fowler parlayed that excellent season right into a five-year, $82.5M cope with the division-rival Cardinals, who loved a robust first yr from their new heart fielder earlier than accidents started to take their toll. Fowler appeared in simply 271 video games over the subsequent three seasons of the deal — certainly one of which was the shortened 2020 marketing campaign — and batted a collective .218/.320/.370 in that point. The Cardinals traded him to the Angels in Feb. 2021, and Fowler suffered a torn ACL simply seven video games into the season with the Halos. He rehabbed the damage and latched on with the Blue Jays on a minor league pact previous to the 2022 season, however Fowler was granted his launch after simply three video games in Triple-A.
All informed, Fowler’s profession will draw to a detailed with a lifetime .259/.358/.417 batting line, 127 house runs, 253 doubles, 82 triples, 149 stolen bases, 817 runs scored, 517 runs batted in and a complete of 1306 hits. That batting line was seven p.c higher than league common, by measure of wRC+, and each FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference peg Fowler’s profession at 19.5 wins above substitute — a complete that certainly would’ve been larger had it not been for the tear in his wrist, the fractured foot and the torn ACL that ultimately mixed to put on Fowler down in what could be his last seasons.
Fowler shall be fondly remembered for his function within the Cubs’ historic 2016 World Sequence win — each his common season manufacturing and his Sport 7 lengthy ball — and for the gregarious character and charismatic smile he so regularly brandished all through his profession. Congrats to Fowler on a prolonged and productive profession, and finest needs in regardless of the subsequent chapter holds. As Fowler himself stated in his retirement bulletins immediately: “Keep tuned for what’s subsequent.”
