The Pittsburgh Pirates can do their best to ensure Kirby Yates hasn’t thrown his last pitch in MLB by staging a big September comeback.<\/p>\n
With less than three weeks in baseball’s regular season, however, the Pirates began the weekend 4.5 games behind the San Diego Padres for the National Legaue’s third and final wild-card berth.<\/p>\n
Yates, 39, isn’t merely racing the clock to come off the injured list before the Pirates’ season ends. In a new interview with MLB.com, he conceded<\/a> the clock is winding down on his career, too.<\/p>\n MORE: Blue Jays promote 2014 draft pick for debut, cut 7-year MLB veteran<\/a><\/p>\n “(My family) wants Dad home as much as they possibly can,” he told Pirates beat writer Aiden Stepansky<\/a>. “So, I think we’re getting to a point where we’ve had conversations before; it kind of hits you different when they tell you they’d rather have you home. So as a father, when you hear that it kind of gets you pretty good in the heart.<\/p>\n “And there’s decisions to make here in the near future. I’m pretty positive in what I’m gonna do.”<\/p>\n Regardless of whether Yates retires after the season, the majority of his playing career is already in the books.<\/p>\n MORE: Recently released White Sox pitcher suddenly retires at 28<\/a><\/p>\n Beginning with his 2014 debut with the Tampa Bay Rays, Yates is 32-29 with a 3.36 ERA and 101 saves in 516 major-league games. He’s worn the uniform of eight teams: the Pirates, Rays, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves, and New York Yankees.<\/p>\n Yates helped the Dodgers win the 2025 World Series, and made two All-Star teams: in 2019 with the Padres and 2024 with the Rangers. He collected downballot Cy Young Award votes after each of those two seasons.<\/p>\n The Toronto Blue Jays signed Yates prior to the 2021 season, but he underwent Tommy John surgery in March of that year, ending his season prematurely.<\/p>\n MORE: Dodgers make trade, acquire pitcher from Blue Jays<\/a><\/p>\n Not only did Yates recover from the elbow ligament-replacement procedure at age 34, he went on to pitch another five seasons. He signed a $5 million contract with the Angels as a free agent in January, and was traded<\/a> to Pittsburgh at the Aug. 3 deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n Currently on the injured list with pain in his right shoulder, Yates would love nothing more than to end his career with another comeback \u2014 and perhaps another postseason run.<\/p>\n