Former Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki retires

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 03: Troy Tulowitzki #12 of the New York Yankees stands in the dugout before the game against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium on April 03, 2019 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 03: Troy Tulowitzki #12 of the New York Yankees stands in the dugout before the game against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium on April 03, 2019 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Due to injuries, former Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki retired from baseball on Thursday afternoon at the age of 34.

Former Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki retired from baseball on Thursday afternoon to join the coaching staff of the University of Texas Longhorns as a volunteer assistant coach for the 2019-2020 season.

As he has for much of his career, he was on the injured list for the New York Yankees since April. This time, he was on the IL with a left calf strain after just five games played for the Yankees, the last of which was on April 3. He also missed the entire 2018 season due to bone spurs.

You can read his full statement on his retirement below.

More from Rox Pile

Tulowitzki, 34, hasn’t played in 140+ games in a season since 2011 with the Rockies and he has only played in 71 games since the start of the 2017 season.

He started his MLB career with the Rockies in 2006 and in parts of 10 seasons with the Rockies, he played in 1,048 games with 188 home runs, 657 RBI, with a .299/.371/.513 and a 123 OPS+. Those 1,048 games is the all-time lead for Rockies shortstops by a nearly 400 game lead over Neifi Perez, who is second in Rockies history with 668 games played.

Tulowitzki was traded from the Rockies during the 2015 season and frankly, at least thus far, the trade has not worked for either team. Tulo was traded along with reliever LaTroy Hawkins for pitcher Miguel Castro, Jose Reyes, Jeff Hoffman, and Jesus Tinoco. Only the latter two are still in the Rockies organization and both of them have been frequent guests on the shuttle between Denver and Triple-A Albuquerque in 2019.

Essentially, Trevor Story replaced Tulo at shortstop and Story has already rivaled him in some stats in less than four full years in the major leagues.

It’s unfortunate that his career has to come to an end on a sour note as, without injuries, Tulowitzki could have been a Hall of Fame worthy player but the injuries derailed much of his career. Some names that come to mind that also fit that bill in recent times are David Wright, Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Nomar Garciaparra, Eric Chavez, Grady Sizemore, and Yoenis Cespedes.

Schedule