Stripling reflects on retirement decision after 13 years in pro baseball

Former A&M pitcher and recently retired big-leaguer Ross Stripling is now the father of three. On Tuesday's edition of TexAgs Live, Stripling walked us through his decision to retire, fatherhood and the similarities he sees between his 2012 A&M team and the 2025 squad.

Key notes from Ross Stripling interview

• I’ve got a son who’s five weeks old. His name is Kase, and he was basically born on Opening Day. I showed up to Kansas City for spring training, and it was kind of ‘make the team or bust.’ With the third boy coming and where I was physically and mentally, I wanted to be in the big leagues, or I wanted to call it a career. They were saying all the right things and didn’t see me on the team. I almost went to Triple-A but opted out. Long story short, nothing in the big leagues came. I was very thankful for that. It made my decision very easy. Opening Day was weird. I was holding a newborn baby, watching my former teammates play. It just kind of came and went. A month later, I was still at peace with the decision.
   
• I miss playing. I miss the guys, the travel and the amenities of being a big leaguer for sure. But I don’t really miss pitching all that much, which I’m thankful for. Obviously, I’m in the trenches over here with three kids, but baseball ran its course. It’s not like I had the best two seasons of my career. If I had thrown 120 scoreless innings, maybe it would be a different thing. I feel like the game was telling me it’s OK to move on. Now I’m in retirement, and a lot of people are reaching out, reminiscing on old memories. I still feel good about the decision here today.
   
• I’ve got three boys under my wing here. They are four, two and a newborn, so we have our hands full. Before I know it, they’ll be playing baseball and other sports. I’ll just be so busy, and I won’t even have time to reminisce on my own career. I will be nose deep in their careers. I’m really excited for this chapter of fatherhood. I’m enjoying it before they go to school, being present and home and put. I haven’t been in Texas since I was a kid, so it’s nice.
   
• In 2017, MLB came out with what was called “Players’ Weekend.” They wanted everyone to come up with a nickname for the back of the jersey. They were trying to do an initiative to get more personality. So everyone called me “Strip,” so that’s what I was going to do, but they told me it was too risque and it needed to be dumbed down a little bit. One of my teammates told me to put “Chicken Strip,” but I had never been called “Chicken Strip” in my life. No one had ever called me that, but I put it on there. It took off like wildfire, and now I think I’ll be “Chicken Strip” forever. It has been great. It’s fun to have.
   
• Clayton Kershaw committed to A&M even though he was going to go in the draft. What I learned from him as a mentor, I can’t speak of highly enough. We had eight guys get married in one offseason. That group is really close, and our kids are similar ages. Going over to Toronto with those huge players was really cool. They were running that ship. The last two years were kind of goofy living in the Bay Area. Living in the same place both years was fun. Then, my time in San Francisco, I was not really proud of how they handled that on and off the field. Then Oakland was really cool because there were a bunch of younger guys, and for the first time, I was the older one. I really got to teach those younger guys a lot and be a mentor to them. But initially, Kershaw, to have him as a friend was amazing, no doubt.
   
• I’m so excited for the Aggies. Obviously, when you lose players to the draft or the portal and you lose a coach, there are some massive voids that we lost in the program. It will always be a learning curve. I understand the reactions on Twitter when you look at the talent that we have. I completely get it, and I understand our group chats were going as well. Eventually, you get that figured out. You look at that learning curve, and the talent improves, and you get healthy.
   
• Having three series wins in the last couple of weeks reminds me of my senior year. We had TCU come to the regional, and you wonder how these guys are a No. 3 seed. I feel like the Aggies will be like that this year. They’re going to go to someone’s No. 2 or No. 3 seed, and they’ll think, “Oh gosh, how are these guys in our regional?”