Culberson retires after 11 big-league seasons
Charlie Culberson has announced his retirement from baseball at the age of 35.
A native of Rome, GA, Culberson appeared in 582 games over 11 seasons.
An infielder, Culberson signed a minor-league deal with the Atlanta Braves this past spring with the intention of converting to pitching. He was released by the team in late March.
“Once I made that switch to [pitching] and then the Braves were like, ‘Hey it’s not gonna work out,’ I told myself, ‘I’m done working out and trying to continue to play,’” Culberson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Justin Toscano. “And I was fine with it. It took a little while to get over the fact of, I guess people not believing in me as a player anymore. But after a while, that kind of fades away and I realized that I’m where I need to be. Looking back on my career, it was like, ‘Hey, I tried my best, so I’m good with it.’”
Making his big league debut in 2013, Culberson suited up for the San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers, Braves and Texas Rangers. He last played in the majors in 2023 in a second stint with the Braves.
Culberson finishes his career as a .248 hitter with 301 hits, 30 home runs, 145 runs batted in and an OPS of .680 in 1,312 plate appearances.