LOS ANGELES _ Chase Utley, the second baseman whose gritty play and veteran leadership have played an integral role in the Dodgers' success since the summer of 2015, plans to announce on Friday that he will retire at the end of this season.
The Dodgers have planned a 3:15 p.m. Pacific time news conference for Utley to announce his decision, which was confirmed by a person familiar with the news but not authorized to speak publicly about it.
Utley, 39, is a six-time All-Star. He was arguably the game's best second baseman during the bulk of his 16-year career, but his role has shrunk from starter in 2016 to platoon player in 2017 to part-time starter and pinch-hitter in 2018.
After signing a two-year, $2 million deal before the season, Utley has played in 57 games, 30 of them starts, and was batting .231 with a .644 one-base-plus-slugging percentage, one home run and 14 RBIs in 147 plate appearances entering Friday night's game against the Angels.
Utley hinted in an interview with Yahoo Sports before this past Father's Day that the time away from his wife, Jennifer, and two sons, Ben, 6, and Max, 3, was beginning to weigh on him.
"I think it's only natural to recognize there's not a whole lot of time left," Utley said. "It's coming to an end sooner than later. ... The one thing I want, that I know is, I want to go out on my own terms. At some point I have to decide, when I'm spending so much time away from my two boys."
Utley, who spent most of his career (2003-2015) with the Philadelphia Phillies, has a lifetime .276 average and .825 OPS with 259 homers and 1,025 RBIs.
During a 10-year stretch from 2005-2014, Utley hit .288 with an .866 OPS, 213 homers, 313 doubles and 808 RBIs and accumulated a Baseball Reference wins-above-replacement (WAR) of 59.6, the second-best mark for a position player during that period, behind Albert Pujols (67.6).
The former Long Beach Poly High School and UCLA standout is considered one of the best base-runners in the game, with 153 stolen bases in 175 attempts, and has been hit by 201 pitches, seventh-most in baseball history and a testament to his willingness to absorb pain for the good of the team.
Utley combined with shortstop Jimmy Rollins to form a dynamic double-play combination that led the Phillies to the World Series championship in 2008, a season in which Utley hit .292 with a .915 OPS, 33 homers and 104 RBIs.
The Dodgers acquired Utley from Philadelphia for minor leaguers John Richy and Darnell Sweeney on Aug. 19, 2015.
Though he hit only .202 with three homers and nine RBIs in 34 games for the Dodgers that season, he made his presence felt in Game 2 of the National League division series with a vicious late slide into second base that broke the leg of New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada.
Utley was suspended for Games 3 and 4 of the series. His appeal of the suspension allowed him to remain on the active roster for the rest of the series, but he did not play in Games 3 and 4 in New York.
Utley hit .252 with a .716 OPS in 512 at-bats over 138 games in 2016 and .236 with a .728 OPS in 309 at-bats over 127 games in 2017, helping the Dodgers reach the NL championship series in 2016 and the World Series in 2017.
As the electricity of Utley's bat faded and his range on defense shrunk this season, he began to lose playing time to the hot-hitting Max Muncy and Enrique Hernandez, but the organization still valued his presence.
"With all due respect to everyone in this clubhouse, he has the most powerful voice of anyone in this building," former Dodgers outfielder Trayce Thompson told USA Today in February. "For us players, his word goes further than anybody else's. You don't even have to talk to him. You just watch what he does. He's seriously one of a kind ... and he represents what it means to be a professional baseball player."
