CHICAGO — Saturday was a significant milestone for Kevin Pillar.
The Angels outfielder officially hit 10 years of major league service time, a feat that fewer than 10% of major leaguers have accomplished. He arrived at the visitor’s clubhouse at Wrigley Field dressed in a suit and was greeted with balloons, gifts and party decorations draped over his locker.
10 years! pic.twitter.com/FQT4t1kU8V
— Kevin Pillar (@KPILLAR4) July 6, 2024
“It’s kind of like the epitome of the service-time mark you reach to know that you’ve really accomplished something very rare in this game,” Pillar said. “Ten years is the marker of, you’ve been able to survive this game, you’ve been able to endure this game.”
Survive and endure have been some of the central themes of the 35-year-old’s journey through professional baseball. Since his major-league debut in 2013, Pillar has had to battle through his fair share of slumps, injuries and trips to the minor leagues to maintain his place at baseball’s highest level.
There were “a lot of dark days” he said, but also plenty of worthwhile accomplishments.
Drafted 979th overall in the 32nd round of the 2011 draft by the Toronto Blue Jays, Pillar had to grind to his way onto a major-league roster after playing college ball at Cal State-Dominguez Hills.
He's never made an all-star team, but he’s built a decade-long MLB career as an above-average outfielder and a reliable bat.
In 41 games with Los Angeles this season, Pillar has hit six homers and is slashing .299/.355/.512. His ability to patrol the outfield has also been a positive.
JJ Bleday might want to stop hitting it to Kevin Pillar 😅 pic.twitter.com/HJXM2lxeGU
— MLB (@MLB) July 4, 2024
“His presence here has been more to us than his performance and his performance has been pretty good,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “Just his presence has made a big difference.
"And having a young club, they need to understand how he got to where he is, and the struggles it took to get where he is, that this game is not always glamorous.”
Now, after 1,172 career games with nine different franchises, Pillar is ready to call this season his last.
“I think this is it,” he said. “I’m pretty sure this is it. I’ve been pretty open and honest about that answer.
“I would never rule out continuing to play, but I definitely wanted to go in (this season) with a mindset of, if this was it, then I was going to enjoy it every single day. The good, the bad, the ugly, the successes, the failures. And just really dive all in and enjoy whatever happens.”
With the trade deadline looming, there’s a chance Pillar gets to wear one more uniform before he calls it a career. At 15 games below .500, the Angels may opt to ship him to a contending team in need of outfield depth.
There is one big perk with 10 years of major-league service: He is qualifies for a fully vested portion of his major league pension. That means he will get about $7,500 per month for the rest of his life once he retires — and if he waited until age 62 to collect he could top out at around $265,000 per year.
Beyond 2024? Pillar said he’s excited about the opportunities that lie ahead after his playing days are over.
“As much as I’ve loved and enjoyed playing this game, I have interests and hobbies outside of this game,” he said. “At 35 years old, there’s things that I want to challenge myself in other fields and industries. And other parts of this industry, too.”