Chance Sisco, the catcher who finished his major league career in a New York Mets uniform, announced Friday that he is retiring from professional baseball at age 31.
Sisco shared the news on Instagram after 14 years as a professional.
“After 14 years of playing professional baseball, I’ve decided it’s time to retire from playing the game I’ve dedicated most of my life to,” Sisco wrote.
He added, “Baseball has given me more than I could have ever imagined. The opportunity to play for organizations like the Orioles, Mets, Mariners, Twins, Cardinals, Duck’s and Dog’s, compete at the highest levels, and make memories that will stay with me forever is something I’ll always be grateful for.”
Mets fans saw Sisco only briefly. Baltimore designated him for assignment in June 2021, and New York claimed him off waivers later that month. He appeared in four games for the Mets that season and never returned to the majors.
Those four games closed a five-year big-league run that began with the Orioles. Across 517 at-bats with Baltimore and New York, Sisco hit .197 with a .317 on-base percentage and .334 slugging percentage. He finished with 16 home runs.
Sisco arrived in the majors as a former Top 100 prospect. The Orioles selected him in the second round of the 2013 draft out of high school in California. He reached the big leagues four years later as a September call-up.
He started hot. In his first 10 major league games he slashed .333/.455/.778. His first hit was a double against the Yankees, and he hit his first home run in the same game.
One of his most memorable plays came on May 12, 2018. Sisco stole home as part of a double steal. The Orioles said he became the first Baltimore catcher to steal home since the team began keeping those records in 1974 and the first Oriole whose first career stolen base was a steal of home since Cal Ripken Jr. in 1982.
After the Mets, Sisco kept chasing a roster spot. He received a spring training look from the Mariners in 2022, was released, and spent the rest of that year with the Twins’ Triple-A club.
He later made a seven-game cameo with the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate in 2024. Outside of that short affiliated stint, he spent the final four years of his career in independent baseball.
This past season he played for the Chicago Dogs of the independent Atlantic Association. Sisco slashed .315/.430/.546 in 65 games. It was his fourth straight season in that league.
His last major league appearance came Sept. 3, 2021, at Nationals Park while he was with the Mets. He was behind the plate when Washington’s Andrew Stevenson crashed into him on a play at the plate.
Sisco leaves the game at 31 after a career that took him from high-upside prospect to journeyman catcher who kept playing long after most former first-round and second-round picks hang it up.
The Mets chapter was short, but it was the last time he appeared in a major league box score.
