Kendrys Morales retired Friday. It was time. The former designated hitter for the KC Royals will turn 37 in May, an uneasy age for a 13-year veteran whose ability to hit a baseball safely as often as he could, and hopefully as far as he could, is not what it used to be. Time, punctuated by a stunningly bad 2019 season, took its toll; Morales leaves the game a free agent without a home since the Yankees released him last July.
Morales made his mark with his bat, not his glove. In only two seasons–2009 with the Angels and 2013 with Seattle–did he play more than 100 games in the field; a first baseman’s mitt was his primary defensive tool, but he ventured into the outfield now and then, played a game at third base and even pitched twice.