Former Yankees reliever Zack Britton officially retires from MLB after 13 seasons

Longtime MLB reliever Zack Britton has officially called it a career. The relief pitcher did not find a home with an MLB team in 2023 and has decided to hang up his cleats after 12 seasons in the big leagues. He was a two-time All-Star during those seasons and reached the 30-save plateau three times in his career.

Zack Britton earned a career ERA of 3.13 and had the tail end of his career derailed by injuries. In fact, what will end up as his final outing in professional baseball was cut short prematurely by injury. He had to be removed from the game.

He last pitched for the New York Yankees, a team he spent five years with. The former closer was a key cog in their bullpen for many years, but injuries caught up with him and eventually forced him almost completely out of the game.

Britton said via The Athletic:

“My last outing was against the Orioles. I threw a ball to the backstop as my last pitch; I think about that and it sucks. It might not have been perfect from a career standpoint or going out on a high note, but you don’t always get to pick. My gut was telling me it was time to see what life was like on the other side.”

Ironically, Britton's last outing came against the Baltimore Orioles, the other team he played for. The pitcher was with them for eight seasons. He cited a desire to spend time with his family as a big reason for his decision to retire.

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Zack Britton officially calls it a career

Zack Britton has officially retired on a very good career. The relief pitcher arguably had the most impressive season for a relief pitcher perhaps of all time. In 2016, he had a sterling 0.54 ERA. He was so good as a reliever that he finished fourth in Cy Young voting and 11th in MVP voting in the American League. That is almost unprecedented.

Zack Britton had an injury the last time out

He never reached that peak again, but he did very good work for the Yankees before ultimately retiring from baseball.