Corey Kluber Retires After 13-Year MLB Career; Won 2 Cy Young Awards with Guardians

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After being named to three All-Star teams and winning two AL Cy Young awards in 13 MLB seasons, Corey Kluber’s career has come to an end.

Kluber announced his retirement on Friday in a statement on Instagram:

Kluber was originally a fourth-round draft pick by the San Diego Padres in 2007. He was acquired by the Cleveland Guardians in July 2010 as part of a three-team trade that sent Ryan Ludwick to the Padres and Jake Westbrook to the St. Louis Cardinals.

It wasn’t a move that generated much attention at the time, particularly from Cleveland’s perspective. Kluber never cracked Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects list. His highest ranking on Cleveland’s top-30 prospect list was at No. 26 overall in 2010.

After a brief taste of the big leagues in 2011 and 12 starts late in the 2012 season, Kluber finally got an extended look early in 2013 when he was called up from Triple-A after Brett Myers suffered an elbow injury.

Kluber showed promise with a 3.85 ERA in 26 appearances. He had a breakout year in 2014 with a 2.44 ERA and 269 strikeouts in 34 starts to earn his first AL Cy Young award.

That was the start of a run in which Kluber finished in the top 10 in AL Cy Young voting in five consecutive seasons, including three straight top-three finishes from 2016 to 2018.

The 2017 season saw Kluber win his second Cy Young award after leading MLB with a 2.25 ERA and 0.87 WHIP, along with 265 strikeouts in 203.2 innings. He is the only pitcher in Guardians history with multiple Cy Young awards.

During Cleveland’s run to the World Series in 2016, Kluber had a 1.83 ERA with 35 strikeouts and eight walks in 34.1 innings over six starts.

The only pitchers who accumulated more FanGraphs’ wins above replacement from 2014 to 2018 than Kluber’s 30.3 were Max Scherzer (31.6) and Clayton Kershaw (30.5).

Kluber spent the final four years of his career bouncing around the big leagues. He played one season each with the Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox.