St. Louis Cardinals legend Yadier Molina hang them up after 19 seasons

The St. Louis Cardinals said goodbye to not one but two legends after the retirements of both Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols. The dynamic duo reunited in 2022 for their final MLB season, providing Cardinals fans with the pleasure of watching two of the best to ever don the uniform one last time.

“Its an honor to wear this uniform and be succeeding Yadier Molina behind the plate.” – St. Louis Cardinals

Molina spent his entire 19-year career in St. Louis, becoming one of the best catchers of his generation, as well as one of the best defensive catchers of all time. The 40-year-old from the Dominican Republic finished his career with a laundry list of accomplishments.

Yadier won almost everything a player could over the course of his career. He was a ten-time All-Star, a nine-time Gold Glove winner, a four-time Platinum Glove winner, and a two-time World Series champion with the Cardinals. He finished inside the top 25 of MVP voting five times, with two of them being top-five finishes.

Throughout the course of his 2,224 games, Molina hit 176 home runs and 1,022 RBIs, while also slashing a .277 batting average. While he is a steady offensive contributor for the Cardinals, Molina is better known for his elite defensive abilities.

He currently sits 14th all-time in Defensive WAR among all players, and second for catchers with a career Defensive WAR of 28.0. Molina sits only behind Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez on the all-time catcher list.

“A restatement of Yadier Molina’s impact on defense. From 2003-2021, opponents have attempted 1,373 SB vs. STL. The next closest team: Arizona, with 1,891 attempts. A sense of the range: The Padres are last on this list, 2,509 SB attempts. For STL pitchers: peace of mind.” – Buster Olney

Yadier Molina and the art of the putout

Molina is the all-time putout leader for catchers, passing Ivan Rodriguez on June 14, 2022. He finished with 15,122 career putouts, 258 more than “Pudge”. For catchers, the bulk of their putouts come from catching strikeouts, pop-ups, pick-offs, and throwing out runners attempting to steal bases.

While Molina thrived on all defensive aspects, he was widely regarded for his ability to throw out runners. In 2012, a Sports Illustrated poll of 306 players found that Molina was the “toughest catcher to run on,” with some teams implementing a “don’t run on Molina” rule.

“38-year-old Yadier Molina throwing out runners at second in 2021. NBD.” – BroBible