Eric Hosmer, the first baseman and designated hitter who won the World Series with the Kansas City Royals in 2015, has announced his retirement from baseball after 13 seasons in the majors.
He did so on his new podcast, “Diggin’ Deep,” which he launched on Wednesday.
He hosts the podcast with former MLB pitcher Peter Moylan and process and development coach Justin Su’a, and it’s the first offering from his new and appropriately named media company, MoonBall Media. Hosmer told Fortune that he will be focusing on that now his baseball career is over, but especially “Diggin’ Deep.” He has high hopes for the podcast.
“We’re not trying to break news, we’re not trying to figure out if any team has interest in trading for Mike Trout or anything like that,” Hosmer said to Fortune. “What we’re doing is digging deep into how people got started in their baseball careers, how something might have happened during their careers that changed them in a big way, things of that nature. That’s going to be something unique and a lot of fun.”
Hosmer, who retires with a .276/.335/.427 career average, was drafted third overall in 2008 by the Kansas City Royals. He made his debut in 2011 and smashed 19 home runs over 128 games while hitting .293, which earned him third place in AL Rookie of the Year voting. Four years later, he and the Royals defeated the New York Mets in the World Series to win the team’s first championship trophy since 1985.
In 2017, the year before his rookie contract with the Royals was up, he had the best season of his career. He hit .318/.385/.498 with 25 home runs (tying his single-season high), and he played in all 162 games. Every player wants to put together their best season in their walk year, but Hosmer actually did it, and it paid off.
After winning a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger, and finishing 14th in AL MVP voting in 2017, Hosmer signed a massive eight-year, $144 million contract with the San Diego Padres, which was the biggest in franchise history at the time. He was never able to produce at his 2017 level again, but spent the next five-plus seasons manning first base for San Diego. In 2022, with the team swimming in massive contracts and running out of playing spots, they traded Hosmer to the Boston Red Sox, who released him during the offseason.
Hosmer signed a one-year deal with the Cubs for the 2023 season, but only appeared in 31 games, hitting .234/.280/.330 with two home runs. The Cubs released him in late May, and Hosmer didn’t pick up with another team for the rest of the season, leading to his retirement.
But he doesn’t seem too broken up about that. He’s got his foot on the MoonBall Media gas pedal and is ready to fully launch himself into a brand new career.
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