Miguel Cabrera isn't done yet.
The future Hall of Famer who retired from the big leagues this year after his final season with the Tigers plans to play one more season of professional baseball in his native Venezuela beginning next October.
Cabrera, 40, revealed this week that he will be playing for his original club Tigres de Aragua, who signed him as a 16-year-old in 1999, in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League in the 2024-25 season.
"I would like to play one more year, competing, playing well and winning with these young players," Cabrera told Venezuelan reporters Monday, via the Free Press, before competing in the LVBP home run derby, which was won for the second year in a row by Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. "I'm going to prepare properly, plan my final season next year and make it big like it was in the U.S."
Cabrera said he won't play in the current season because he wants to rest his chronically damaged right knee, which plagued him in his latter years with the Tigers, and "be physically ready."
"I always say that I don't want to be embarrassed, and if I'm doing something, I'm doing it right," Cabrera said.
The LVBP, also known as the Venezuelan Winter League, is an eight-team league that attracts many star players from Venezuela in the MLB offseason. The season runs 55 games, with the playoffs concluding in late January. Cabrera got his first professional hit with Tigres de Aragua in December 1999, the same month that he was signed as an amateur free agent by the Florida Marlins.
Speaking to the fans at Monday's home run derby, an event that he won in both 2005 and 2012, Cabrera said, "Venezuelan baseball is one of the best things that happened to me in my career. The level is super exciting and you, the fans, add that special flavor. It's something that I miss, and hopefully, I'll see you guys soon. Thank you."