Dodgers News: Former Dodgers’ All-Star Ross Stripling Announces Retirement
MIAMI— Former Los Angeles Dodgers’ all-star starting pitcher Ross Stripling is calling it a career after thirteen seasons, with the announcement coming on social media today.
Stripling, 35, spent five years with the Dodgers but was the team’s fifth-round draft pick in the 2012 Major League Player Draft. Chicken Strip, his alter ego, was an important part of the late 2010s Dodgers teams that appeared in back-to-back World Series but fell short to the Houston Astros in 2017 and the Boston Red Sox in 2018.
However, Stripling will famously be known for his Major League debut when rookie manager Dave Roberts pulled the young righty after 7.1 innings of no-hit ball against the Dodgers National League Western Rival, the San Francisco Giants.
Stripling, who was a season removed from elbow surgery and rehab, was at a career-high in pitches, which forced Dave Roberts’ hand. Back in 2016, the move was seen as a drastic measure; today, it’s the norm with starting pitchers going less deep into games.
Despite the headlines directed toward the Dodgers after that start, Striping put together a great tenure in Dodger Blue, tossing 420.2 innings with a 3.68 ERA, 3.90 FIP, 1.217 WHIP, and 4.2 bWAR from 2016 until 2020.
Striping stepped up big during the 2018 season with injuries to the Dodgers rotation, helping to stabilize and put the team back on track. His efforts earned him his first and only all-star nod, going 8-2 with a 2.08 ERA in the first half of that season.
The Dodgers then traded Stripling to the Toronto Blue Jays during the 2020 season for right-handed pitcher Mitch White, ending his five-year Dodgers tenure.
From 2021, Stripling bounced around from Toronto to the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants, posting a combined 4.59 ERA across 410.0 innings pitched.
Stripling was an unsigned Major League free agent this season, so he hung it up and started the second chapter of his life.
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