Reports of Mitch Garver's retirement after 110 home runs… Texas World Series-winning catcher, official announcement unconfirmed

Local reports say Mitch Garver, the catcher on Texas's 2023 World Series-winning team, signed retirement paperwork. He is a career 110-home-run hitter. No announcement from him or the team has been confirmed.

Translated from Korean with AI assistance. Read the original. Sources and original publication dates are retained.

Three-line summary

A Minnesota Sports Fan reporter reported on October 21, 2026 that Mitch Garver signed retirement paperwork.
Garver's MLB career stats: 701 games, .229 batting average, and 110 home runs. He was a member of the 2023 Texas title team.
There is no official announcement from Garver or the team, and his official MiLB profile still lists him on the Restricted List.

"According to sources, former Minnesota Twins catcher Mitch Garver officially retired after a 10-year career." Minnesota Sports Fan's reporter Ted Schwarzler wrote this sentence on October 21, 2026 (local time). These are not Garver's own words. The retirement news about the 2023 Texas title team member began with this single report.

Source for Mitch Garver's retirement is one reporter's report… no announcement from him or the team confirmed

As of October 23, 2026, no retirement announcement from Garver or the team, no original retirement paperwork, and no exact signing date have been confirmed. Overseas headlines even used "announces retirement," but the original basis is only Schwarzler's sourced quote. Articles repackaging the same reporting were not counted as independent cross-checks.

Administrative records also conflict. As of the October 23, 2026 check, his official MiLB profile still lists Garver on the Restricted List. His age also differs: Roundtable listed him as 36, but based on his birth date of January 15, 1991, he is 35. His career game total also differs: MLB Trade Rumors counts 702 games, a difference of one game.

Mitch Garver: 110 career home runs and a Silver Slugger… his 2019 season accounts for 28%

Seattle Sports compiled Garver's career stats as 701 games, .229 batting average, 110 home runs. He also posted a .325 on-base percentage, a .432 slugging percentage, and 324 RBIs. His peak came in 2019: he hit 31 home runs and 67 RBIs in 93 games for Minnesota, and that year he won the American League Silver Slugger award for catcher (the award for the best hitter at each position).

93 games were 13% of his 701 career games, but his 31 home runs were a share of his 110 career home runs: 28% (31÷110). Home runs per game were 0.33 in 2019 and 0.16 over his career, more than double. Per Baseball Almanac, his 31 home runs tied for 24th in the league with Jose Altuve and ranked 5th on the team.

2019 Minnesota "Bomba Squad" home run rankings (confirmed regular-season records)

Rank	Player	Home runs
1	Nelson Cruz	41
2	Max Kepler	36
3	Miguel Sano	34
4	Eddie Rosario	32
5	Mitch Garver	31
6	C.J. Cron	25

Mitch Garver contract $40,000→$24 million… from Texas title win to Yankees minors

Garver was drafted in the 9th round of the 2013 draft, and his signing bonus was $40,000. In the July 5, 2017 MiLB article, there is a record of Garver scoring on a Park Byung-ho hit. The two played together not in the majors but at Triple-A. He then came to Texas in a March 2022 trade and became a member of the following year's title team.

According to an MLB.com report, his peak salary came with the two-year $24 million contract he signed with Seattle in December 2023, 600 times his signing bonus. Seattle declined the $12 million 2026 option on November 3, 2025, and in February of the following year kept him on a minor-league contract with a guaranteed amount of $2.25 million upon promotion. Garver was released on August 4, and he made no major-league appearances with the Yankees either.

Texas title ring, a 31-home-run season, and a $24 million contract: Garver's 10 years are on record. However, his retirement is still at the stage of a single reporter's sourced report. No declaration from him or the team and no exact signing date have been confirmed. The only confirmed numbers right now are 701 games and 110 home runs.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Was Mitch Garver's retirement officially announced?

No. On October 21, 2026, Minnesota Sports Fan reporter Ted Schwarzler reported that he had signed retirement paperwork, but no announcement from him or the team has been confirmed. As of October 23, 2026, his official MiLB profile lists him on the Restricted List.

Q. What was Mitch Garver's Seattle contract worth?

It was a two-year, $24 million total contract signed in December 2023. Seattle declined the $12 million 2026 mutual option, and his later minor-league deal carried a $2.25 million guarantee upon promotion to the majors.

Q. What is Mitch Garver's connection to Park Byung-ho?

The two played together for Minnesota's Triple-A affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings. A July 5, 2017 game report records Garver scoring on a Park Byung-ho hit. Their time together on Minnesota's major-league team is not confirmed in the fact sheet.

Related official sites

MiLB Mitch Garver official profile and records — check career stats and current roster status
Texas Rangers official website — news on the Texas club's 2023 World Series title
Seattle Mariners official website — news from Garver's last major-league club

Representative image · File photo · Not a photo of the current game in the article · Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Ian D'Andrea on Flickr), CC BY-SA 2.0