He only played 30 games for the Boston Red Sox, but in that time, he put up one of the best OPS totals in his whole career.
That was early 2020 for the Boston Red Sox, when Kevin Pillar played an on-fire 30 games with Boston that includes seven doubles, two triples and four home runs.
He was moved to the Colorado Rockies in the odd COVID-shortened season and would never wear Red Sox colors again.
On Wednesday, Pillar announced his retirement.
Pillar joined the MLB show Foul Territory to share his thoughts on stepping away from the game.
“You realize how stressful being a Major League Baseball player is,” Pillar said. “For me, what I started to realize when I was away from the game, when I got DFA’d, I realized as great as it is to be successful in the game, to have these highs and hit the home runs, striking out and not being successful and going 0 for your last 10, those things always outweighed the success I had in the game.
“I took the failure in the game way harder than I did the success. I don’t have to deal with the failure anymore, so I’m pretty excited. I get to wake up every morning and be dad and just see what the day brings.”
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Pillar is most known for his time with the Blue Jays, where he spent seven seasons and was a star defender in centerfield.
He also played for the Giants, Mets, Angels, Braves, White Sox, Dodgers and ended his career this season with 20 games for the Rangers.
He hit .255 in his MLB career with a .697 OPS, but that short Boston stint featured a .274 average and .795 OPS.
Red Sox fans may remember that time as a very odd one all around, but at least Pillar was around doing good things.
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