Phillies news and rumors 12/14: Reliever Tommy Hunter retires from baseball

Tommy Hunter spent parts of three seasons with the Phillies. (Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

A former Phillies reliever announced his official retirement on Wednesday.

Right-hander Tommy Hunter is calling it a career after 16 seasons, he told The Athletic‘s Britt Ghiroli. The 37-year-old pitched part of three seasons in Philadelphia from 2018 to 2020.

Rising to prominence as a reliable bullpen piece earlier in his career in Baltimore, Hunter signed a two-year free-agent contract with the Phillies before the 2018 season. That first year in Philadelphia went nicely for Hunter as he posted a 3.80 ERA in 64 innings across 65 appearances. However, injury limited him to just five outings the next season. He re-signed for one year in 2020 and had a 4.01 ERA in 24 appearances.

Hunter then pitched for the Mets for parts of three seasons from 2021 to 2023. He had a 6.85 ERA in 14 outings this past season and was released by New York in June.

“The Bigger Fella” — as he was called on his 2018 Players’ Weekend jersey with the Phillies — had a 4.07 ERA in 917 1/3 career innings.

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Ty Daubert

Ty is a writer for Phillies Nation, covering the minor-league system and Phillies news.

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