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Former Blue Jays infielder Freddy Galvis announces his retirement

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Former Blue Jay Freddy Galvis announced his retirement late last week after 10 seasons in Major League Baseball, as well as stops in Mexico, Japan, and Venezuela, his home country.

Galvis was signed in July of 2006 by the Philadelphia Phillies, and he would make his major league debut with them on Opening Day in 2012 due to an injury to Chase Utley. His debut would then mark the first time in 42 years that a Phillie would make their big league debut on Opening Day. His first major league hit was an RBI double off Marlins hurler Aníbal Sánchez and his first major league home run came against R.A. Dickey of the Mets, both occurring within eight days of his debut.

After spending six seasons in Philadelphia, Galvis was traded to the San Diego Padres in December of 2018 for reliever Enyel De Los Santos. Galvis would start 162 games for the Padres in 2018, marking the second consecutive season he had accomplished the feat.

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Galvis was signed by the Blue Jays to a one-year, $5 million deal ahead of the 2019 season. The infielder seemed to be a perfect fit to a roster whose infield had little to no certainty; Aledmys Diaz had been traded and Troy Tulowitzki was released right after the 2018 campaign. Devon Travis’s injury-filled track record was difficult to ignore, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was coming off of his rookie year splitting time between second and short. Furthermore, Galvis would also serve as an ideal stopgap middle infielder until Cavan Biggio and Bo Bichette were ready to make their pending MLB debuts that season.

Situations aside, Galvis took the opportunity and ran with it, having one of the best seasons of his career. Over 115 games in Toronto, he slashed .267/.299/.444 with a .743 OPS, 18 home runs, 54 RBIs, and 24 doubles. He got off to a strong start to the season, posting a .313 batting average, .844 OPS, and nine extra-base hits through his first 26 games with the club. The Blue Jays welcomed his contributions with open arms as their offense as a whole produced only 29 runs over their first 11 games. Galvis played in the first 24 games of the season, but missed the next three games with a hamstring injury, breaking a streak of 349 consecutive games played.

Although starting the season as the bottom of the order, Galvis was moved up in the lineup and even hit as high as leadoff in April. Galvis also became the fourth Blue Jays in team history to hit two home runs on Canada Day with a pair of long balls against the Royals that season, a list that was recently joined by George Springer just last week.

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With Gurriel Jr. moving to the outfield, Galvis would almost exclusively play shortstop with the Blue Jays. Galvis maintained positive remarks about his defense throughout his career, and the same would be said during his time in Toronto as he pulled off multiple impressive plays. Fellow veteran Eric Sogard also worked his way into an everyday role at second base, third base, and even a few designated hitter days. Between the two, the Blue Jays had a pair of veteran presences in a locker room of younger players.

Galvis left an impression on then-rookie Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who admitted while mic’d up during a 2023 game against the Orioles that Galvis was one of three “amazing veterans” that Guerrero Jr. had played with to that point in his career, joining Brandon Belt and Justin Smoak.

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Galvis’s time in Toronto would come to a close after he was placed on waivers in mid-August. Sogard had been traded to the Rays just a couple weeks prior, and Bichette’s call up completed the Biggio-Bichette middle infield. Galvis would be claimed by the Cincinnati Reds and would spend the remainder of the year as well as 2020 in the NL Central. His final major league season would be in 2021 as he played in 104 games between the Orioles and Phillies, the team that he started his career with.

Galvis joined the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Japan for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, with current Mets pitcher Kodai Senga being his teammate in the former season. Galvis would call it quits after playing with Aguilas del Zulia of the Venezuelan Winter League and Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos of the Mexican League between 2024 and 2025.

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