There have been few baseball journeys like the one traveled by Jesse Chavez.
He took his final step on Thursday, when he announced his retirement from Major League Baseball.
Chavez was a 42nd-round pick in 2002 by the Texas Rangers out of Riverside City College. That round doesn't even exist anymore.
The right-handed pitcher wound up playing 18 seasons in MLB.
He pitched for the Braves, Athletics, Rangers, Pirates, Angels, Blue Jays, Cubs, Royals and Dodgers.
Chavez spent his most seasons with the Braves. In 190 appearances over six years, he had a 3.30 ERA for Atlanta.
MORE: Edwin Diaz is MLB's best pitcher since learning his legs were different lengths
The 41-year old broke his own news on the Foul Territory show on Thursday. Here's a portion of what he said:
"I think this is it. Time to turn the page. Focus on the next chapter in life, and go help all the young kids, all the stuff that I did, so that they don't have to take two steps back, they can take three steps forward.
"... This has been a great ride, way more than I expected as a 42nd-round draft pick. The thing was, I was given a gift early on, I understood it, but it was, how am I gonna make it last? I always said, I wanted to go out the way I came in, being able to roll out of bed and throw a baseball. And that's what I did."
MORE MLB NEWS:
- Juan Soto is the unluckiest hitter in MLB
- Former Yankees, Astros slugger reaches 500 career home runs far from home
- Deion Sanders, Bo Jackson once had the most legendary clash at Yankee Stadium
- Cal Raleigh, aka Big Dumper, signs the perfect endorsement deal
- Justin Verlander reaches historic MLB milestone that may never be touched again
- Tarik Skubal has done the same thing in 122 of his 123 MLB starts