Every offseason, rosters get shaken up with new faces coming up from the minors. And a few familiar veterans step away from the game. This year, we’ve already seen the first of those goodbyes, with former Rangers World Series winner Andrew Heaney announcing his retirement. What’s surprising is that he’s only 34. Especially when guys like Max Scherzer are still searching for their next team at 42.

“Rangers World Series champion pitcher Andrew Heaney has announced his retirement from baseball.” Rangers Nation shared the announcement via X.

Additionally, in his retirement message, Heaney said he’ll miss the game. However, he added that the experiences and relationships he built along the way helped shape him as a person. “I’m retiring from baseball, but I hope to give back more than I received.  Thank you all for the love and support you have given me.  Y’all know who you are.” His emotional message reads!

For the context, Heaney wraps up his career with a 4.57 ERA across 1,136 2/3 innings. He worked both as a starter and occasional reliever for six different MLB teams, most notably spending seven seasons with the Angels.

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However, his final season was split between the Pirates and Dodgers, where he posted a 5.52 ERA over 122 1/3 innings. Reportedly, after signing a one-year, $5.25 million deal with Pittsburgh last February, Heaney struggled enough that he wasn’t moved at the trade deadline. The Pirates eventually shifted him to the bullpen and released him at the end of August.

The Dodgers then brought him back on a minor-league deal, and he made just one big-league appearance in late September, missing out on their postseason roster.

Still, Heaney’s legacy is firmly tied to his time in Texas. Why?

During his two-year run with the Rangers, he played a key role in their 2023 World Series title. If you remember, he notched the first 10-win season of his career during the regular season and picked up the win in Game 4 of the World Series. He threw five strong innings of one-run ball against the Diamondbacks to put the Rangers one win away from a championship.

So, a good name to be missed from MLB here on!

Is it too early for Heaney to hang up his boots?

If you check the stats of Heaney, you know home runs were a persistent challenge for him throughout his career.

Reportedly, the 199 he gave up certainly played a role in driving up his ERA. It kept him from ever quite cementing himself as a true front-of-the-rotation starter. Still, that one flaw doesn’t tell the whole story.

Heaney managed to carve out a long and productive MLB career by leaning on his ability to miss bats. Check his strong 23.8% career strikeout rate, while also showing solid command, walking just 7% of the hitters he faced!

Still, even as things became more challenging in 2025, it didn’t feel like Andrew Heaney was completely out of gas. If he had wanted to keep pitching, there was a reasonable path for him to stick around.

He could transition into a full-time bullpen role where his stuff could’ve played up in shorter stints. That said, the way the league has been trending, it’s fair to wonder how realistic it would’ve been for him to secure another guaranteed major league deal.

So, in the end, there’s no perfect moment to walk away from the game. And timing a retirement is always tricky. Heaney chose to step aside on his own terms, with a World Series ring and more than a decade in the majors to his name.