Blue Jays’ Ex-Pitcher From a Notorious Trade Calls It Quits, Leaving Fans Reflecting on the Career That Was .MH
This former Toronto pitcher announced his retirement.
For most players in Major League Baseball, their time for retirement comes closer as they approach the age of 40. But for one former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher, their swan song actually came a lot earlier than expected as Erik Swanson has called it a career at the young age of 32 after just seven MLB seasons.
For Swanson, he will forever be remembered in Toronto as being part of the controversial trade that sent fan favourite Teoscar Hernández to the Seattle Mariners during the 2022-23 offseason. Even though Hernández didn’t end up raking it big for the Mariners, the move would eventually pave way for the star outfielder to join the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In doing so, he has managed to win two World Series championships already, to the pain and agony of Blue Jays fans everywhere that never wanted him to leave.
Former Blue Jays pitcher from controversial trade calls it a career
As for Swanson and his tenure with the Blue Jays, he put together a strong first season after joining the ballclub by
going 4-2 with a 2.97 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, along with 75 strikeouts in 66.2 innings pitched over 69 relief appearances.
However, his follow-up years with Toronto didn’t go according to plan, filled with injuries and inconsistency for the most part. In 2024, Swanson began the season on the injured list with thoracic spine inflammation. But even after returning from the IL a couple of weeks into the regular season, he barely resembled the pitcher he was the previous year. In the end, Swanson compiled a 2-2 record with a 5.03 ERA while giving up 22 earned runs including 11 home runs in just 39.1 total innings.
2025 was even more disastrous for the right-handed pitcher as he missed over a month to start the regular season due to a right arm injury. When Swanson rejoined the Blue Jays in June, he gave it all he had but would only last six more outings before he was designated for assignment. He would clear waivers and was ultimately released from the team by the end of the month.
Nevertheless, Swanson would still finish with a respectable 7-4 record, four saves, 4.28 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, along with 115 strikeouts in 111.1 innings over his three seasons with the Blue Jays. As for his MLB career, he posted an 11-16 record, 4.20 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, together with 281 strikeouts in 266 total innings over 246 games played.
Here, we will like to take this opportunity to wish Swanson all the best in his retirement from baseball and in whatever future endeavours that may be waiting for him and his family.
