Ian Desmond was never anyone to do things in a big, splashy way, so it wouldn’t have been hard to miss the former Washington Nationals’ shortstop’s retirement announcement, tucked away in Jon Heyman’s New York Post notebook column.
The 36-year-old is officially calling it a career after an 11-year major league run that started with the Nationals in 2009 and ran through 2019 in Colorado.
Still under contract with the Rockies, Desmond opted out of the 2020 and 2021 seasons before the Rockies declined his $15 million team option for 2022.
Throughout his career, Desmond passionately devoted himself to the communities where he’s lived and played, and his top priorities remain his family and the community in Sarasota, Florida.