Catcher Rene Rivera announced his retirement on Instagram Friday, ending a career that saw the 39-year-old have four stints with New York teams, including two MLB stints with the Mets.
“In June 2001, I had the opportunity to make one of my dreams come true, to get signed as a professional baseball player,” Rivera started a note posted on his Instagram page. “21 years later, I thank God for the career he has allowed me to have. Today I want to announce that I am retiring as a professional baseball player.”
Rivera was a second-round pick of the Mariners in 2001 and made his MLB debut in 2004, and he ended up hitting .221 in 542 games over parts of 13 seasons with 10 teams. His most recent action came in 2021, when he played 25 MLB games between Cleveland and Washington.
His first stints with an NY team came in 2009-10, as he played 68 games for the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate (then in Buffalo) in ’09 and then 44 games between Double-A and Triple-A for the Yankees in 2010.
Rivera later joined the MLB Mets in 2016-17, playing 119 games and acting as Noah Syndergaard’s personal catcher, helping Syndergaard go 14-9 with a 2.60 ERA in 2016. The veteran returned in 2019-20, playing 98 games at Triple-A Syracuse and 11 in the majors.
He thanked every team he played for, his family, his coaches, his agents, and the fans, and then concluded by saying “I am ready for the next step of my career.”
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