Blue Jays' improbable star retires after 13 MLB seasons

Billy Heyen

Blue Jays' improbable star retires after 13 MLB seasons image

He's really one of the most improbable standout players in the history of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Kevin Pillar was a 32nd-round draft choice out of Cal State-Dominguez Hills.

That was in 2011, and Pillar made it until July 2, 2025 before retiring from Major League Baseball.

His finest moments came with the Blue Jays, where he may have been the best centerfielder on the planet for a couple of years.  He could also pack a punch at the plate, with 156 Toronto doubles and 55 Toronto homers, along with 69 steals for the Blue Jays.

Pillar would then spend time with the Giants, Mets, Angels, Braves, Red Sox, Rockies, White Sox, Dodgers and Rangers.

He played in 20 games this season at the MLB level for the Rangers before being designated for assignment and subsequently deciding to retire.

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Pillar joined the MLB show Foul Territory to share his thoughts on stepping away from the game.

"You realize how stressful being a Major League Baseball player is," Pillar said. "For me, what I started to realize when I was away from the game, when I got DFA'd, I realized as great as it is to be successful in the game, to have these highs and hit the home runs, striking out and not being successful and going 0 for your last 10, those things always outweighed the success I had in the game.

"I took the failure in the game way harder than I did the success. I don't have to deal with the failure anymore, so I'm pretty excited. I get to wake up every morning and be dad and just see what the day brings."

That's great perspective.

And it comes at the end of a great, improbably lengthy MLB career.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle