Evan Longoria will retire with the team that drafted him.
The three-time All-Star third baseman is officially calling it quits, more than one year after his last appearance in a major league game. The Tampa Bay Rays announced Monday that Longoria, 39, will sign a ceremonial one-day contract prior to the June 7 game and retire as a Ray.
Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was first to report the news Monday.
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Longoria did not play in 2024 after appearing in 74 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2023, helping the team make a surprising World Series run.
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The third overall pick in the 2006 MLB Draft, Longoria made the American League All-Star team in each of his first three seasons in Tampa Bay. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 2008 and won three Gold Glove Awards in a 16-year career with the Rays (2008-17), San Francisco Giants (2018-22) and Diamondbacks (2023).
Longoria will officially retire with 342 home runs, 1,159 RBIs, and a .264 career batting average.
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In his prime, Longoria was a consistent power hitter and fielder at the hot corner. He hit 30 homers on four occasions, and will retire with a .966 fielding percentage at third base — 29th all-time, according to Baseball Reference.
Longoria’s arrival at the major league level coincided with the Rays’ ascent from an American League East doormat to a team that regularly participated in the postseason. His Rookie of the Year season culminated in the franchise’s first-ever World Series appearance.
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Although the Rays would reach the American League Division Series in three of the next five seasons, Longoria’s best chance to get back to the World Series would not arrive until after he was traded to the San Francisco Giants in Dec. 2017.
While none of the four players the Giants gave up would become major players in Tampa Bay, Longoria helped San Francisco win a franchise-record 107 games in 2021.
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However, he went 2 for 17 in a best-of-five NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers that October, and the Giants lost the series in a Game 5 thriller. Longoria never hit more than 20 home runs in any of his five seasons in San Francisco.
The disappointment of Longoria’s Giants tenure was avenged in his only season in Arizona. As a 37-year-old backup in 2023, Longoria hit .223 with 11 home runs, and helped the Dbacks return to the World Series for the first time since 2001 — a fitting bookend to a career that began with another improbable World Series run.
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