MIAMI, FL—One of the flashiest shortstops in Miami Marlins history put on a Marlins jersey one final time on Wednesday night. Adeiny Hechavarría, who was the team’s starting shortstop from 2013 through early 2017, officially announced his retirement. Hechavarría spent parts of nine seasons in MLB (2012-2020) and stayed active for several years after that in international and independent leagues. The 36-year-old last played in Puerto Rico during the 2024-25 winter ball season.
“This is something that is very important to me,” Hechavarría said in Spanish prior to the game. “I live in Miami, but it’s been a long time since I have entered the stadium—the last time I was here was in 2020 with the Atlanta Braves. Honestly, coming back here is something that is very important to me. I feel proud because of what the Marlins are doing and I am really grateful to the team and I’m ready to have a good time.”
He threw out the ceremonial first pitch wearing a No. 3 Marlins Retrowave City Connect jersey (the same uniform number he had as a player).
Hechavarría, a native of Santiago de Cuba, signed in 2010 with the Toronto Blue Jays. During the first half of that season, he overlapped with current Marlins manager Clayton McCullough, who was managing Toronto’s High-A Dunedin affiliate at the time.
“Right away, this guy could really catch the ball,” recalled McCullough. “It was a very smooth, almost like a spider. I can remember how wide he could get his legs and sink down to the ground and the ball disappeared in his glove with arm strength, and a real twitchy athlete that I felt had some potential with the bat. Great kid.”
After the 2012 season, Hechavarría was part of the biggest trade in Marlins history in terms of total players involved—he went to Miami along with Henderson Alvarez, Yunel Escobar, Jeff Mathis, Anthony DeSclafani, Jake Marisnick and Justin Nicolino in exchange for Emilio Bonifácio, John Buck, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson and José Reyes.
“It was a marvelous time,” said Hechavarría regarding his stint with the Marlins. “The person I remember the most is Dee Gordon. In reality, he was one of my best friends on the field because he was next to my locker. When I look back and begin to remember all the great moments establishing myself, it’s emotional. All that time with José Fernández, Dee Gordon, (Marcell) Ozuna and (Christian) Yelich, all those people all joined the team almost at the same time that I did. We had some great times. The memories that I have here are very impactful for me.”
Hechavarría recalled being in the running for the 2014 Gold Glove. He believes he would’ve won it in 2015 had he not gotten hurt during the final month of that season. Overall as a Marlin, he slashed .255/.292/.336/.628 with 13 home runs, 168 RBI and a 74 OPS+. His best season was 2015, slashing .281/.315/.374/.689 with five home runs, 48 RBI and 2.6 fWAR.
In 2017, the Marlins traded Hechavarría to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for Braxton Lee and Ethan Clark. That created room for prospect JT Riddle to get an opportunity as the club’s starting shortstop.
Hechavarría was constantly on the move from that point forward, a journey that included two seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball.
“They were great experiences,” Hechavarría said. “I never thought that I would play there one day in Japan. I always knew from Cuba that Japanese baseball players were great and still are great, as they have won two World Baseball Classics. Baseball over there is the same game, but the culture is different. Once you are there, you adapt.”
Hechavarría told Fish On First that he still remains in contact with Strange-Gordon, Ozuna and Stanton, specifically.