Braves Catcher John Buck Surprises With Retirement
Mar 16, 2015; Kissimmee, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves catcher
John Buck(34) celebrates with left fielder
Eric YoungJr. (4) after hitting a solo home run in the third inning against the Houston Astros at Osceola County Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
This one is quite a bit surprising.
Braves catcher John Buck announced today he is retiring from baseball to spend more time with his family.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) March 26, 2015
Nope – didn’t see that one coming.
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John Buck, a veteran of 11 major league seasons, is announcing his retirement from baseball this morning. He was in the midst of making a strong push to make the Atlanta club with a slash line that was actually pretty impressive – even for Spring: .320/.452/.600/1.052 in 25 at bats.
In recent days, Christian Bethancourt‘s hitting has been impressive as well, and enough – probably – to have the coaches inform Buck that he would not make the club. Thus he has opted to retire.
This is unfortunate for Atlanta, for I would expect that the team could have moved Buck to another club via trade. In fact, he could almost have had his choice of destination, given that quality backup backstops are often hard to come by (see Atlanta, 2014). Instead, it seems that Buck’s choice has been to stop the merry-go-round and leave the ride.
Solid Career
John Buck, who will be 35 years old in July, debuted in the majors in 2004 just prior to his 24th birthday as a member of the Kansas City Royals. After that point, he started moving from team to team:
- 2010 Blue Jays
- 2011-12 Marlins
- 2013 Mets and Pirates
- 2014 Mariners and Angels
Eric Stultz (left) talks with teammate John Buck. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
In 9 of those seasons, he played in at least 100 games, dropping to just 32 in 2014. Buck got some Rookie of the Year considerations in 2004 and was named an All-Star with Toronto in 2010.
Offensively, that All-Star year was his best season, reaching 2.8 fWAR while hitting .281 with 20 home runs. In 2013 while with the Mets, he hit 15 dingers… and it seemed like a lot of them were against Atlanta (it was actually only 1, but he had 6 hits (including a double and 6 RBI) in 6 games vs. the Braves. Just as importantly, Buck rating as an above-average defender in nearly every season he played.
Overall: 134 HR, 491 RBI in 1090 games, 4009 PA, a 7.7% walk rate, 23.9% K rate, and .234 major league batting average.
We’re surprised, John, but you get to walk away on your own terms. It’s been a short and quick time here (exactly 2 months), but we will remember that even for this brief period: you were a Brave.