Matt Beaty’s path to the majors was never the kind that came wrapped in hype. He wasn’t the prospect everyone circled early, and he didn’t arrive in Los Angeles with a can’t-miss label attached. But by the time his playing days were done, he had become a World Series champion and a useful piece in a trade that still carries weight.
Beaty announced his retirement Monday in a post on Instagram, nearly two years after his last appearance in professional baseball. His final game came in September 2024 with the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Double-A affiliate.
“I believe it’s time to finally officially announce that I’m entering the next chapter of my life," Beaty wrote. "It’s been almost two years since my last at-bat in baseball.
The time since then has been filled with questions and back-and-forth. Should I keep playing?
Is there another opportunity out there? Or is it finally time to close this chapter?
"In my experience, a decision like this isn’t easy. You spend your entire life devoting time, effort and sacrifice to a game.
You make choices and give up opportunities because baseball doesn’t always allow you to experience life the way everyone else does. When something has been such a huge part of your life for so long, walking away is hard.
"Deep down, I think I knew my last game was my last game. I just held onto the hope that it wouldn’t be."
The Dodgers took Beaty in the 12th round of the 2015 draft, 372nd overall, out of Belmont University in Nashville. He was far from a headline prospect, even inside a loaded Dodgers system. Baseball America ranked him 21st in the organization entering 2018 and 25th entering 2019.
Still, Beaty carved out a real role by the end of 2019. He had become a valuable utility player and a left-handed bat for a first-place club.
One of his most memorable moments came with only 58 career plate appearances to his name. On June 21, 2019, he launched a two-run homer in a 2-2 game to walk off the Colorado Rockies. It kicked off a run of three straight Dodgers games decided by walk-off hits from rookies, and it was one of several clutch swings Beaty delivered in Los Angeles.
His rookie season finished with career highs across the board: 268 plate appearances, nine home runs, 46 RBIs, 19 doubles, a .458 slugging percentage and a .775 OPS.
Beaty’s 2020 regular season was a bit disappointing in the COVID-shortened year, but he still made the Dodgers’ National League Championship Series roster against the Atlanta Braves. He got only three plate appearances in the series, yet reached base every time, drawing a walk and getting hit by pitches twice.
The Dodgers traded Beaty to the San Diego Padres in March 2022 for pitcher River Ryan. Ryan’s time in Los Angeles was limited by injuries, but he was still valuable enough as a prospect to help the Dodgers acquire Tarik Skubal ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
Beaty then moved on from San Diego to San Francisco and Kansas City from 2022-23. In 290 regular season games, he finished with a .247 batting average, 18 home runs and 96 RBIs.
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