Two months after the Baltimore Orioles released longtime starting pitcher Kyle Gibson, he announced that he’s closed the book on his 13-season MLB career.
Gibson, 37, revealed Thursday on the “Serving It Up” podcast he’s decided to end his professional baseball career.
Advertisement
The righty entered this year with 10 straight seasons — excluding the pandemic-affected 2020 campaign — where he had logged at least 147 innings pitched.
In fact, he’s recorded the seventh-most innings among all MLB pitchers since 2013. Also in that span, he’s second behind only Max Scherzer in total starts on the mound. Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, is narrowly ahead with 329, whereas Gibson finished his career with 328 starts in the majors.
Gibson played for five teams: the Minnesota Twins (2013-19), Texas Rangers (2020-21), Philadelphia Phillies (2021-22), Baltimore Orioles (2023, 2025) and the St. Louis Cardinals (2024).
His longest stay was with the Twins, who selected him in the first round of the 2009 MLB Draft following an impressive career at the University of Missouri. Tommy John surgery pressed pause on Gibson’s journey to the majors, however, he eventually made his debut at 25 years old in 2013.
Advertisement
In his seven seasons with the Twins, Gibson posted a 67-68 record and 4.52 ERA. He walked as a free agent after the 2019 season and signed with the Texas Rangers, for whom he earned his first and only trip to the MLB All-Star Game.
Gibson received that honor in 2021, a season in which he was ultimately dealt to the Phillies at the deadline. Before that trade, though, the Greenfield, Indiana, native was 6-3 with a 2.87 ERA. His Rangers numbers were even better prior to the All-Star break. Leading up to the Midsummer Classic that year, he was 6-1 with a 2.29 ERA in his first 17 starts.
Gibson didn’t achieve the same success with the Phillies. Then his ERA stayed above 4.0 with the Orioles in 2023 and the Cardinals in 2024, although he did win a career-high 15 games during his first go-around in Baltimore as the club won 101 regular-season games and an AL East title.
Advertisement
Excited to return to the Orioles, Gibson signed a one-year, $5.25 million deal with Baltimore in March. Unfortunately for the veteran pitcher, his reunion was short-lived.
In his four starts with the team this season, he went 0-3 with a 16.78 ERA. He was released in mid-May.
Although he went on to sign a minor-league contract with the Tampa Bay Rays, he didn’t make it back to the big leagues this summer.
A tough 2025 doesn’t diminish an otherwise consistently productive MLB career for Gibson, who made more than $70 million while clocking out with a 112-111 record and 4.60 ERA in 1,878 innings.
Read the full article here
