Former Alabama Catcher Alex Avila to Retire After 13-Year MLB Career

The veteran catcher played for the Crimson Tide from 2006-2008, and recently announced his intention to retire after the 2021 season with the Washington Nationals.

Sports Illustrated

Washington Nationals catcher Alex Avila has announced he's retiring from Major League Baseball at the end of the 2021 season after a 13-year playing career. Playing for his third team in the last three years, Avila signed with Washington prior to the start of this season.

And, on September 12 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he became Alabama's all-time MLB leader in home runs with 105, passing fellow Crimson Tide baseball alumnus Jim Tabor.

The former Alabama catcher played for the Crimson Tide for three seasons before signing to the Detroit Tigers as a fifth-round selection of the 2008 MLB Draft. He was drafted 163th overall by the franchise of which his father, Al Avila, is currently the executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager.

Avila's father joined Detroit in 2002, and has held that position since 2015.

The veteran catcher and 2011 American League All-Star selection will have played for six clubs upon his retirement from MLB. That includes over seven seasons with the Tigers, about half a season with the Chicago Cubs, one with the Chicago White Sox, one with the Minnesota Twins, two with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and his career finale in Washington in 2021.

In over three thousand career at-bats, 3,049 to be exact, Avila has a career batting average of .233 and has tallied 711 hits in what's almost 13 years of pro baseball. He sits at 105 career home runs at the moment, and he has 395 RBIs since his debut with the Tigers over a decade ago.