On June 20, 2023, 37-year-old starting pitcher Corey Kluber did something he’d never done before: he converted the first and ultimately, only save of his career.

That was Kluber’s final game for the Red Sox before right-shoulder inflammation wrenched the game away from him for good.

What a unique way for a starting pitcher to go out, especially one who dominated the game for most of the last decade.

With Kluber’s retirement announcement on Friday, that save becomes the period at the end of a 13-year sentence that included two American League Cy Young Awards, three consecutive All-Star seasons, MVP votes, a no-hitter, and several postseason runs.

“With sincere appreciation, I am announcing my retirement from Major League Baseball, concluding a remarkable 13-season Major League Baseball journey,” he wrote on Instagram. “I am deeply grateful for the support of numerous individuals and entities that profoundly influenced my path.”

“A special acknowledgement to the Cleveland Guardians, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, and the Boston Red Sox for granting me the privilege of wearing their jerseys and being a part of your team,” he continued, listing his former teams in chronological order. He went on to thank the Players’ Association and players, his agents, trainers, staff, teammates, and his wife and children, whom he called “my bedrock.”

With such an impressive resumé, mostly with Cleveland, it’s easy to forget that Kluber wasn’t technically a homegrown player. The San Diego Padres selected him in the fourth round of the ‘07 draft, then made the mistake of trading him to Cleveland as part of a three-team transaction in 2010.

Kluber debuted in 2011, but didn’t become a full-time member of the rotation until 2013. He emerged as an elite starter in 2014, leading the American League with 18 wins and a 2.35 FIP, and all Major Leaguers with 34 starts, winning his first AL Cy Young as a result. It would be the first of five consecutive seasons in which he received votes for the prestigious pitching award.

Between ‘14 and ‘18, Kluber owned a 2.85 ERA and 1.016 WHIP across 160 starts – including least 32 starts in four of five years – with 1,228 strikeouts over 1,091 ⅓ regular-season innings. He became Cleveland’s marquee player, and led them back to the postseason. That Cleveland won three consecutive division titles during his three consecutive All-Star seasons in ‘16-18 was no coincidence.

In 2016, Kluber’s 3.14 ERA (32 starts, including three complete games and two shutouts) helped Cleveland win their first pennant since ‘97. And because he and Team AL had triumphed over Team NL in the All-Star Game, Cleveland also became the last squad to receive home-field advantage determined by the midsummer event. (It now goes to whichever team had the better regular-season record.)

Trophy-less since 1948, Cleveland had inherited the unfortunate distinction of owning the longest championship drought in the AL when the Red Sox ended 86 fruitless years in ‘04. Facing Boston in Game 2 of the ALDS, Kluber pitched seven scoreless innings at Fenway Park, holding the home team to three hits, three walks. Cleveland swept Boston, then opened the ALCS with Kluber shutting out the Toronto Blue Jays for 6.1 innings.

But after taking a 3-1 lead against the Chicago Cubs in the World Series, Cleveland blew it. Kluber started Games 1, 4, and 7, but after dominating Chicago in the first two, the Cubs finally got to him in the final contest: four earned runs on six hits in four innings. The Cubs ended their 108-year drought, and adding insult to injury, turned the AL drought leader into MLB’s drought leader.

A determined Kluber returned with a vengeance the following year. His performance in ‘17 ranks among the best single-season showings this century. He led MLB with a career-best 2.25 ERA and 202 ERA+ (not including his lone scoreless inning for Texas in 2020), 0.869 WHIP, 7.36 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and 18 wins, making 29 starts, including five complete games and three shutouts, also the best marks in the Majors. He edged out Chris Sale, who’d had an excellent first season in Boston, to win his second Cy Young, and finished seventh in AL MVP voting, but Cleveland fell to the Yankees in a five-game ALDS.

Following another excellent campaign in ‘18 – 2.89 ERA, 33 starts, an AL-leading 215 innings pitched – the apex of Kluber’s career began fading into the rearview mirror. Following an injury-impacted ‘19 season, Cleveland traded him to Texas in December, for outfielder Delino DeShields and right-hander Emmanuel Clase. Acquiring Kluber from San Diego was one of the best trades in Cleveland’s franchise history, but Clase’s emergence as baseball’s best closer – 1.97 ERA, 223 games, 110 saves over the last three seasons – puts trading Kluber away on that list as well.

Kluber tore his right teres major muscle one inning into his Rangers debut, ending his ‘20 season before it even began. Next, the Yankees took a chance on him, and though he only made 16 starts in ‘21, one of them was a no-hitter.

It’s unfortunate that such a career ended on a low note. After making 31 starts and racking up 164 innings for the ‘22 Rays, higher marks than over the previous three seasons combined, he signed a one-year deal with the Red Sox. A rough Opening Day would be one of only nine starts for Boston. Overall, he pitched to a 7.04 ERA across 15 games, including his first relief appearances since 2013. There were a couple of flashes of the old Kluber – a pair of one-run starts of five and six innings apiece in April – but he was demoted to the bullpen by the end of May, and right-shoulder inflammation ended his season a month later.

The playing chapter of his career is over, but Kluber is already eager to write the next one. Given his history as a mentor for young arms, it’s easy to see him transitioning into a role as sought-after pitching coach.

“As I take my leave from the pitcher’s mound, my passion for baseball remains unwavering,” he concluded. “I eagerly anticipate exploring opportunities to continue contributing to the sport in a different capacity … I look forward to passing on what I have learned to the next generation of MLB players.”