Braves release Ryan Howard from minor league deal

ATLANTA >> Ryan Howard doesn’t want to retire from baseball. He may not have a choice. The former National League MVP, one of the greatest power hitters in Phillies history, was released from his minor league contract Monday by the Atlanta Braves after he struggled at Triple-A Gwinnett. It is a major blow to the 37-yearold slugger’s hopes of carrying on with another team after a long career with the Phils.

Less than a week after Howard insisted “there’s more in the tank,” the Braves decided otherwise. After an extended spring training, Howard played just 11 games with the G-Braves, hitting .184 with a .238 on-base percentage and .263 slugging percentage. He had just one home run and five RBIs. He struck out 11 times.

The hope had been that Howard could eventually bolster an anemic Atlanta bench and serve as designated hitter in interleague games. But his options were limited, since he could only play first base and Atlanta already has Freddie Freeman.

Going a different direction, the Braves completed a deal with Minnesota for utility player Danny Santana. The Twins received lefthanded reliever Kevin Chapman and cash.

Howard was once among baseball’s most feared hitters. In 2006, his first full season as a starting first baseman for the Phils, he put together one of the greatest stat lines in baseball history: 58 homers, 149 RBIs, a .313 average and an MVP award.

The Phillies would go on to win five straight NL East titles, a stretch that included two trips to the World Series and a championship in 2008. Howard averaged 41 homers and 129 RBIs during that run, finishing in the top 10 of the MVP voting every season.

But his career was forever altered on the last play of the 2011 division series against the St. Louis Cardinals, when he tore his Achilles tendon trying to run out a grounder for the final out of a 1-0 loss. He hasn’t been the same since. Plagued by one injury after another, Howard’s production plummeted the last five seasons. In 2016, he showed flashes of power with 25 homers but batted a career-worst .196, prompting the Phillies to decline a $25 million option for this season and giving him a $10 million buyout.