Former Colorado Rockies closer Wade Davis retires after 13 seasons

Former Colorado Rockies closer Wade Davis has decided to retire, per the Kansas City Royals on Twitter. Davis, 36, spent part of three seasons in a Rockies uniform from 2018 through 2020.

Wade Davis struggled throughout most of his career with the Rockies and part of it was due to playing at elevation but he went back to the Kansas City Royals this season and he still dealt with injury issues and was, by and large, ineffective.

In 2021, Davis appeared in 40 games for the Royals and had an ERA of 6.75. With the Royals, he did have a bit of bad luck (5.30 FIP) but a WHIP of 1.477 and a 1.7 HR/9 rate were his biggest downfalls.

Former Colorado Rockies closer Wade Davis retired on Wednesday, per the Kansas City Royals.

Wade Davis started off his career with the Colorado Rockies pitching fairly well, as in the first two months of 2018, he had 18 saves with an ERA of 2.35 (FIP of 3.68). But things went down the tubes in the middle of the season as he had an ERA of 8.50 in his next 27 appearances.

In the middle of that 27 appearance span was the implosion of the year for the Rockies on Father’s Day at old Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas.

He ended the season well as he only allowed one run in his final 18 appearances (ERA of 0.50 and a FIP of 0.78).

2019 was similar in that through June 10, he was great (2.16 ERA, 2.61 FIP) but for the rest of the season, he got worse and worse with each outing as he had an ERA of 12.81 for the rest of the season.

In 2020, he was injured and struggled even more before the Rockies released him.

Overall, he had a career ERA of 8.40 at Coors Field but pitched much better on the road as a Rockie. He also, despite what Rockies fans primarily saw, had a great career. In 13 seasons, he had a sub-4.00 ERA with two All-Star appearances and ranked in the top ten in Cy Young Award twice as well. He was also on 2015 World Series Champion Kansas City Royals as well.

We here at Rox Pile would like to congratulate Davis on his career and wish him the best in retirement.