Darren O’Day announces his retirement

Former Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Darren O’Day announced his retirement today after parts of 15 seasons in MLB.

O’Day tweeted out a statement from his Twitter account this morning announcing the end of a career that started in 2008 with the Angles and concluded last season with the Braves.

For his career, the side-winding right-hander from Jacksonville, FL, pitched in 644 games - all in relief - and collected 21 saves. He was an All-Star while with Baltimore in 2015.

The well-travelled pitcher played for six teams in his career, with the majority of his career spent with the Orioles from 2012 through 2018.

O’Day pitched in parts of the 2019 and 2020 season with Atlanta after being part of a trade deadline deal on July 31, 2018, that saw him sent to the Braves with pitcher Kevin Gausman for a collection of prospects and international bonus slot money. O’Day, who was injured at the time, would pitch in eight games for Atlanta after his return from injury late in 2019 and would appear in 19 games during the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

He would pitch in the postseason in both 2019 and 2020 for Atlanta, including four games in 2019 and five in 2020.

O’Day returned to Atlanta after a one-year stint with the New York Yankees in 2022 and would see action in 28 games before going on the injured list on July 13, 2022, with a left calf strain, from which he would not return to pitch at the major league level.

For his career, O’Day was worth 8.8 fWAR per Fangraphs, with Baseball-Reference putting a 17.4 bWAR value on his performance. Overall, he went 42-21 with a 2.59 ERA in 609 innings with a 1.034 WHIP and an excellent 167 ERA+. At his peak from 2010 through 2020, he maintained a fantastic 177 ERA+ with a 0.982 WHIP in more than 500 games with Texas, Baltimore, and Atlanta.

With the Braves, he went 6-2 with a 2.70 ERA in 55 games and 43.1 innings, including a 384 ERA+ and 0.785 WHIP in 27 games in 2019 and 2020.