Former St. Louis Cardinals All-Star announces retirement after falling from grace

Former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez announced his retirement from baseball via his personal Instagram account on Sunday morning.

Martinez, 34, posted on Instagram that he was bidding farewell to baseball after an eight-year career.

Former St. Louis Cardinals All-Star pitcher Carlos Martinez announced his retirement from baseball.

Martinez spent nine years in the majors, all of which were with the St. Louis Cardinals. He finished his major-league career with a 62-52 record, a 3.74 ERA, and two complete-game shutouts. He was an All-Star in 2015 and 2017. Tsunami had a three-year stretch of excellence from 2015-2017 in which he went 42-27 with a 3.24 ERA and a 126 ERA+.

Martinez transitioned to the bullpen in 2018 and 2019 for the Cardinals due to various shoulder injuries. He racked up 29 saves over those two years across 63 relief outings.

Martinez was a key pitcher for the Cardinals in their 2013 World Series push; he pitched 12.2 innings that year with a 3.55 ERA and 11 strikeouts.

"Today I bid farewell to this sport, but I'll never bid farewell to (my people's) hearts. Thanks for supporting me so much," wrote Martinez on his Instagram page.

Martinez has bounced across the minors since 2021, signing deals with the San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox in 2022. He's played in foreign leagues since then, though, never having made it past Triple-A in that time.

Martinez had not appeared in an MLB game since 2021. In September of 2022, he was suspended for 85 games for violating Major League Baseball's domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse policies. Earlier that year, he was suspended 80 games for testing positive for the performance-enhancing substance ibutamoren, which increases human growth hormone.

Martinez's career had plenty of promise early on, and he lived up to the hype for a time. Injuries and policy violations got in the way of Martinez reaching his full potential. What was once an All-Star career ended in disgrace. Martinez was, however, able to retire out of his own desire, and he showed plenty of gratitude to those who helped him get where he got during his career.