Sometimes baseball players age gracefully and retire on their own terms. Hall of Famers David Ortiz and Chipper Jones are among that lucky cohort. The vast majority of them, however, fall off the radar before you even realize they’re gone.
In 2018, Scooter Gennett was a National League All-Star. After struggling for the Reds and Giants the following year, he never signed with a major league team again. Wilson Ramos, Mitch Moreland, Shin-Soo Choo and Mike Foltynewicz are just a few others who were All-Stars four years ago and have long been off any MLB roster. It’s hard to discern when any player’s talent is no longer major-league caliber, but it’s a key skill to have for front offices trying to differentiate between a veteran who could end up as a bargain-bin signing and a player who’s already turned into a pumpkin.
Hunter Dozier landed himself on the first edition of Pumpkin Watch last year by showing alarming signs of decline just months after signing a four-year, $25 million extension in March 2021. This season, the 31-year-old has measured as MLB’s worst qualified hitter in terms of FanGraphs WAR and will almost certainly be cut loose by Kansas City in the offseason. It’d be surprising if he’s handed a guaranteed major-league contract with another team, at least before the ’23 campaign.
