On Saturday, Diamondbacks pitcher Mike Hampton announced to the team that he has decided to retire. According to MLB.com, Hampton had been weighing the decision for several days before ultimately opting to put an end to his 16-year career.
Mike Hampton Retires After Injury-Riddled 16-Year Career
Unfortunately, Hampton may be most remembered for his proneness to injury. At age 30, he suffered an elbow injury that required him to undergo Tommy John surgery. As a result, he missed most of the 2005 season, and thanks to a cocktail of unrelated injuries, he didn’t pitch in the major leagues again until 2008. He continued to be hampered by injuries in 2008 and 2009, and rotator cuff surgery limited him to only 4.1 innings in 2010.
Before injuries laid waste to his career, however, he was an effective starter. In 1999, he sported a 2.90 ERA and went 22-4 for the Astros, which earned him a second-place finish in the National League Cy Young Award voting. He was a two-time All-Star, and he gained a reputation around baseball as one of the game's best-hitting pitchers. In 2001, while with the Rockies, he hit seven home runs in only 79 at-bats.
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