If there was any question in Kevin Pillar’s mind as to whether he’d made the right decision in retiring from professional baseball, the Toronto Blue Jays’ sixth game of the 2026 season removed all doubt.
Pillar announced his retirement last July after 13 seasons in Major League Baseball and has since transitioned to broadcasting as a TV analyst for Sportsnet.
“I was there on a Wednesday for a 12:30 game against the (Colorado) Rockies, it’s kids’ day, and I’m watching the guys warm up an hour before the game, and I’m thinking ‘Man, this is just one of, they’ve got about 157 more games,’ and at that point I was not envious of the guys on the field,” Pillar said in a SportsCage interview Thursday.
Pillar, who played his first six seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays before an April 2019 trade to the San Francisco Giants, will also be in Regina April 25 as the guest of honour for the Regina Red Sox’ annual sports dinner and auction.
The Jays drafted Pillar in the 32nd round, 979th overall, of the 2011 amateur draft, and the outfielder went on to play 1,234 big-league games, retiring with a .293 on-base percentage, 114 home runs, 469 runs batted in and 111 stolen bases to his name.
In addition to the Jays and Giants, Pillar also suited up for the Rockies, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers.
“Everyone’s journey to the major leagues in professional baseball is a little bit different,” Pillar said. “Mine was a little bit unorthodox and I’m not the only one who was able to really kind of develop a little bit later in life.
“But ultimately I was given an opportunity much like these kids (in Regina) are given an opportunity to play collegiate summer ball. And I always try to remind people, if you’ve got a jersey and a team to play against and a field to play on you’ve got an opportunity to be seen, so I think that’s going to be my message to these guys.”
For Pillar, that opportunity never translated into the chance to play for a World Series, but did offer him a front-row seat to one of the most iconic moments in recent Canadian sports history – then-teammate Jose Bautista’s bat flip after hitting a go-ahead home run in Game 5 of the 2015 American League Division Series against Texas.
The three-run shot followed a controversial overturned call in the top half of the inning that gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead in the game.
“I remember scoring on Donaldson’s jam shot before the bat flip so … the game was tied and there was a sense of relief that we weren’t going to lose this game on something that we hadn’t seen before, but it’s still the greatest moment of my baseball career having a small part in that and living it in real time,” said Pillar.
