Former NY Mets player from the beloved 2015 roster announces his retirement

Where has the time gone? The 2015 New York Mets are now a full decade in our past and even rookies who debuted that season are deciding to retire. The 2015 Mets were remembered for a lot of things. A fun team few thought were ready to win a pennant, they’ll always be one of the most beloved clubs in franchise history because of how they managed to do what so few have and actually make it to the World Series.

Plenty of players from the roster have already retired. We can add another to the list. After two years playing exclusively in the minor leagues, Kevin Plawecki is hanging up his cleats and taking a coaching position with the San Diego Padres in the minor leagues.

Former Mets catcher Kevin Plawecki is moving onto the next phase of his career

Plawecki has the strange distinction of being most remembered for an object being spotted in his locker. It wasn’t what he had planned when he was drafted 35th overall in 2012 by the Mets. A huge year at Purdue helped him go early in the MLB Draft and set forth on the path toward becoming a top prospect in the system.

Plawecki didn’t show much power in the minors, but he made up for it with two seasons of batting over .300 in 2013 and again in 2014. He’d never be Mike Piazza. Maybe the Mets could at least get a couple of years resembling Joe Mauer.

Consistent hitting at the big league level was difficult for Plawecki. He batted .219 in 2015 and only .197 in 2016. His 2017 season, albeit with only 118 plate appearances, resulted in a much better .260 batting average. He’d return the following year with a career-high 277 trips to the plate. The end result was a .210 batting average.

Just a .218/.308/.330 slash line for the Mets with 14 home runs in 804 plate appearances, he ended up traded to the Cleveland Indians in January of 2019 for Sam Haggerty and Walker Lockett. He’d later show flashes of brilliance in 2020 when he hit .341 in the shortened season for the Boston Red Sox. He followed it up with a .287 batting average in 2021 in a larger sample of 173 plate appearances. Plawecki reverted back to his old Mets ways by hitting .217 in 2022 for the Red Sox. He’d end up released in September and would play 3 more games with the Texas Rangers to finish off his MLB career before floating around in the minors in 2023 and 2024.

Based on absolutely nothing other than him becoming a journeyman catcher most casual fans will forget, one has to wonder if he’s bound to be the next great MLB manager in another 10-15 years. If Kevin Cash can hit .183 and play in parts of 8 different MLB seasons then go on to become one of the more well-respected managers in the game, what’s to stop Plawecki from one day doing the same?