David Dahl was the 10th overall pick in the 2012 Major League Baseball Draft, and all things considered, he made the Colorado Rockies proud for taking him.
Dahl’s seven-year major league career flamed out quickly, but at his peak, he was a very productive outfielder. He made the 2019 National League All-Star team, and in his seven seasons, the first four of which were with the Rockies, he put up a .773 OPS.
Unfortunately, Dahl also had a handful of injuries that curtailed his progress, and after 2021, he only played 23 more games as a big-leaguer. He last appeared in the majors with the Philadelphia Phillies last year, and after electing free agency at the end of the year, he never wound up signing with a new club for this past season.
On Wednesday, Dahl officially called it a career. The 31-year-old announced his retirement in a video posted to his social media pages. The video featured a highlight montage of his career, preceded by a humorous clip of fellow one-time All-Star Brock Holt tossing one of Dahl’s old bats in a dumpster.
“Baseball has been my life for as long as I can remember,” Dahl wrote in the caption. “From being a kid in Alabama chasing a lifelong dream to stepping foot on a big-league field…after 13 seasons and several months to reflect on it, it’s officially time for the next chapter. Thank you, baseball.”
Dahl soldiered through a ruptured spleen in 2015, a rib stress fracture in 2017, a fractured foot in 2018, and a lingering shoulder issue in 2020 that derailed his season. He was nontendered by the Rockies after that year, and wound up having brief stints in the Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and Phillies organizations.
Dahl’s All-Star selection came in 2019, when he slashed .302/.358/.524 with 15 home runs and 61 RBIs in `100 games.
Playing at Coors Field all of those years meant that his offensive numbers looked a bit inflated compared to his wins above replacement (just 1.0 in his career), but Dahl still undoubtedly had some high points, and he made a playoff appearance as well as a member of the 2018 Rockies.
More MLB: Phillies Lose 26-Year-Old Strikeout Machine to NL East Rival