Reds Pitcher Strongly Considering Retirement After 11 Seasons

After 11 years in the game, and at the age of 34, it just might be time to call it a career. That's the current thinking of veteran Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mike Minor. 

“Mike Minor has most likely pitched his last game for the Cincinnati Reds”

Exhale.

— Big Red Machine (@BigRedTweeter) September 23, 2022

His season came to an end on Friday when he was placed on the injured list with shoulder pain. 

I’m not closing the door, but it’s barely cracked. It’s mostly if I get the itch to play, then maybe. It also goes along the same lines of if I feel good. If I don’t feel good, then that answers that question pretty easily. I’d have to feel good, and I’d have to want to play and want to be away from my family again.

And right now, he's simply not feeling good. And to add insult to injury, his performance this season in his first year with the Reds left plenty to be desired. He finishes the campaign with with a 4-12 record and a 6.06 ERA, along with an ugly 76:40 K/BB ratio, and an equally unseemly 1.63 WHIP. 

A shoulder strain had already cost him the first two months of the season, and now shoulder trouble again to bookend the season might spell the end for the lefty.

“It’s tough being away from my family, pitching like that and feeling like this, you know, every fifth day pretty much getting beat by players – good players, but players I’ve beat in the past or I know that if maybe I was healthy, I would have a better chance against them,” Minor said. “That’s been tough being humbled the whole year."

Mike Minor reflects on his season and playing through shoulder pain. pic.twitter.com/DJFrtXs9Xq

— Bally Sports Cincinnati (@BallySportsCIN) September 25, 2022

“I feel like I’ve had pretty good success my whole career, but I’ve had to grind through it,” he added. “It’s not been easy, but I’ve prided myself on that. Being there every time, taking the ball when I didn’t feel good. I know there are a lot of people that wouldn’t take the ball with the pain that I’ve had or the stuff I’ve gone through, so I pride myself on that. I feel like that was kind of an old-school of doing things. The guys I came up with, that’s what they did. You play until you can’t.”

And as things stand now, he just simply can't. 

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports, Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK