Elvis Andrus retires as a Ranger: The experienced shortstop spent 12 MLB seasons with Texas after making his debut at age 20

Longtime shortstop Elvis Andrus will officially retire from the Texas Rangers on Friday, the team announced. He will be joined at the press conference by his former Rangers teammate Michael Young, who is now a special assistant to the organization, and his former Rangers manager Ron Washington. Washington is now the manager of the Los Angeles Angels. The two teams begin a weekend series on Friday night.

“Being in the major leagues was always a blessing, but the game has changed, the players have changed, the teammates have changed,” Andrus recently told the Dallas Morning News. “Everyone is in their early 20s. Everyone I grew up with is out now. In the last five years, I’ve seen all of my closest friends end their careers. For the last few years, I’ve been wondering, ‘When is my time?’ I thought this was going to be a depressing journey, but it’s been incredible. I really thought it was going to be harder being away, but I’ve really found peace and am at peace with the next decision about the next journey.”

At just 36 years old, Andrus originally signed with the Atlanta Braves in January 2005 as an international amateur free agent from Venezuela. In 2007, he was traded to the Rangers as a junior in the big Mark Teixeira trade and then got the job as shortstop on Opening Day in 2009 as a 20-year-old. That season, Andrus posted a batting average of .269/.329/.373 with 33 stolen bases and finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting behind reliever Andrew Bailey of the Oakland Athletics.

Andrus was selected to the All-Star game the next season and was one of the most reliable and durable shortstops in the game from 2009 to 2017. In those nine seasons, he hit .277/.335/.371 and averaged six home runs and 30 home runs per year. Andrus played 1,379 of a possible 1,458 regular-season games in those nine years. He was an All-Star in 2010 and 2012.

Andrus remained with the Rangers through the 2020 season and was then traded to the A’s in February 2021 as part of a salary restructuring in exchange for Khris Davis and Jonah Heim. He finished his career with the Athletics (2021-22) and Chicago White Sox (2022-23). ​​Andrus completed spring training with the Arizona Diamondbacks this year but was released at the end of training camp.

Overall, Andrus posted a career batting line of .269/.325/.370 with 2,091 hits, 102 home runs, and 347 doubles. He was a very strong defensive shortstop for most of his career and finished with 34.2 WAR. Andrus is ninth in Rangers history in WAR (29.8), second young in games played (1,652), third in hits (1,743), and first in stolen bases (305), among other things.