Former long-time New York Mets shortstop, Jose Reyes, officially announced his retirement from Major League Baseball on Wednesday evening.
“After 16 great MLB seasons, I’m officially announcing my retirement from baseball,” Reyes wrote. “As a young boy growing up in the Dominican Republic, I could have never dreamed of achieving all that I have through this incredible game.”
Reyes played 12 of his 16 MLB seasons with the Mets over two-separate stints, developing into one of the top shortstops in the game during the mid-to-late 2000s.
After signing with the club as a 16-year-old in 1999, Reyes made his MLB debut in 2003 where he had a stronghold on the starting job within two years.
Overwhelming speed and an affluent bat saw him catapult to start status, making four All-Star teams in a seven-season stretch from 2005-2011.
He led the league in stolen bases for three straight years from 2005-2007, combining for 202 swipes at the time. Reyes also led the league in triples twice during that span along with an additional two seasons in 2008 and 2011.
As one of the faces of the franchise alongside David Wright — who made his Mets debut just one year after Reyes — the Mets won their first National League title in 18 years in 2006, falling one game short of a pennant.
One of his finest seasons as a pro came in his final year with the club, 2011, when he won a batting title behind a .337 average alongside an MLB-best 16 triples.
He opted to walk in free agency, joining the Miami Marlins for a season before he was shipped off to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Off-field issues and inconsistencies assured he would never reach the same heights as he did in New York, spending time with the Colorado Rockies before returning to the Mets in 2016.
His late-season acquisition played a role in the Mets making the NL Wild Card Game, which they dropped to the San Francisco Giants.
Reyes spent an additional two seasons with the club before his departure in 2018. He had not played in MLB since.
“I want to thank the New York Mets for giving me the opportunity to become a professional baseball player and for bringing me back at the end of my playing career,” Reyes wrote. “Mets fans, what can I say? We never got the ring we hoped we would get, but I can’t imagine playing in front of any better fans in the whole world. Your passion and energy always lifted me higher and for that, I will always be grateful.”
This story originally appeared on amny.com.
