Longtime Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics Reliever Sean Doolittle Retires

Sean Doolittle has announced his retirement after making two All-Star Games and winning one World Series title over the course of his 11-year MLB career.

After 11 seasons in the big leagues, veteran reliever Sean Doolittle officially announced his retirement from baseball on Friday.

The longtime Washington Nationals and Oakland Athletics left-hander appeared in 11 games across four levels of the minor leagues in 2023. Doolittle's final MLB appearance came with the Nationals in 2022.

Doolittle thanked his teams, fans, managers, family and more in a heartfelt note on Instagram.

World Series champion Sean Doolittle has announced his retirement from baseball pic.twitter.com/WcszkyQSm2

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 22, 2023

The Athletics took Doolittle in the first round of the 2007 MLB Draft, and he made it to the majors by 2012. Doolittle was named an All-Star in 2014, and he was eventually traded to the Nationals in 2017.

Doolittle spent the next three-and-a-half seasons in Washington, getting named an All-Star again in 2018 and winning a World Series in 2019.

After splitting time with the Cincinnati Reds and Seattle Mariners in 2021, Doolittle returned to Washington in 2022. The Nationals inked him to a minor league deal this past offseason, but he never earned a call-up in 2023.

Doolittle finished his career with a 26-24 record, 3.20 ERA, 1.014 WHIP, 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings and 112 saves. During his peak – which lasted from 2012 to 2018 – Doolittle boasted a 2.83 ERA and 0.890 WHIP.

During the Nationals' 2019 World Series run, Doolittle overcame a spotty regular season to allow just two earned runs across 10.1 innings of postseason action. Doolittle appeared in nine playoff games for Washington that fall, putting up a 1.74 ERA, 0.677 WHIP and two saves while holding opponents to a .167 batting average and .495 OPS against.

The Nationals went 8-1 when Doolittle pitched that postseason.

Doolittle, who is set to turn 37 years old next week, joins Stephen Strasburg as the second Nationals playoff hero to call it quits in the past month.

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