It's been more than a year since Lonnie Chisenhall last played in a Major League game.
It doesn't appear the former Cleveland Indians outfielder will be playing in another one.
Speaking at Newport Middle School in Newport, North Carolina, last week, the 31-year-old Chisenhall revealed that he has now retired from professional baseball. Chisenhall's retirement revelation didn't come by way of a grand announcement or post on social media, but rather a question and answer session with students at his former middle school.
“I’ve only played 29 games in the past two years,” Chisenhall said, according to J.J. Smith of The Carteret County News-Times. “So between that, and I have three kids at home, they are all in school, traveling around the country wasn’t practical anymore. It was a pretty easy decision.”
Selected by the Indians with the No. 29 overall pick of the 2008 MLB Draft, Chisenhall spent the entirety of his eight-year career in Cleveland. In that span, the left-handed-hitting outfielder appeared in 688 games, hitting for a .268 batting average (.846 OPS), 64 home runs and 296 RBIs.
After becoming a free agent following the 2018 season, Chisenhall signed a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. A finger injury, however, ultimately prevented him from ever appearing in a game with the team.
Known as a key member of the Indians' clubhouse with a knack for coming up his big hits in key spots, Chisenhall was undeniably a fan favorite over the course of his career in Cleveland. After the news of his retirement was made public on Monday morning, Indians fans took to Twitter to celebrate his career.