Matt Beaty Announces Retirement from Baseball

Matt Beaty, who had stints with four MLB teams over parts of five seasons, has announced his retirement. Beaty played a supporting role in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 2020 World Series victory. He shared the news on his Instagram account on Monday, Aug. 24.

In his post, Beaty explained, “I believe it’s time to finally officially announce that I’m entering the next chapter of my life. It’s been almost two years since my last at-bat in baseball. The time since then has been filled with questions and back-and-forth. Should I keep playing? Is there another opportunity out there? Or is it finally time to close this chapter?”

Beaty acknowledged, “Walking away is hard,” but realized that “deep down, I think I knew my last game was my last game. I just held onto the hope that it wouldn’t be.”

Beaty, 33, appeared in 305 career games for the Dodgers (2019-21), San Diego Padres (2022), San Francisco Giants (2023), and Kansas City Royals (2023). He also participated in 15 postseason games with the Dodgers, including three in 2020 when they ended their 32-year World Series drought.

In 2024, Beaty played 53 minor league games in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization but was released in September of that year. He has been a free agent since then.

From 2019-21, Beaty hit .262/.333/.425 (100 OPS+) for the Dodgers, earning a reputation as a reliable left-handed first baseman and corner outfielder. As a rookie, he established career highs in plate appearances (268), home runs (nine), RBIs (46), doubles (19), slugging percentage (.458), and OPS (.775).

Beaty’s performance peaked in 2021, setting career highs in games (120), on-base percentage (.363), and OPS+ (104). Following this period, the Dodgers traded him to the Padres for pitcher River Ryan. Ryan was later part of a trade to the Detroit Tigers for pitcher Tarik Skubal.

Over the following two seasons, Beaty managed to play only 50 MLB games, not repeating his previous success.

“Baseball gave me friendships I cherish, experiences, failures, successes, perspective and a mindset that will stay with me for the rest of my life,” Beaty expressed on Instagram.