Glenn Otto, a former New York Yankees prospect who was traded to the Texas Rangers in a high-profile trade, announced his retirement from professional baseball in an Instagram post.
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Otto, 29, went 7-13 with a 5.62 ERA in 39 games (33 starts) with the Rangers from 2021-23. The right-hander signed a minor league contract with the Houston Astros in August 2024, and was invited to the Astros’ spring training camp this season.
But a right shoulder injury that first surfaced in 2023 and prevented him from pitching for parts of the 2024 season never allowed Otto to pitch for the Astros. He was reassigned to their minor league camp in February, and spent the entire Triple-A season on the injured list.
“After twenty five years of chasing a dream that shaped nearly every part of my life, I’m grateful to share two milestones: graduating from Rice University and officially retiring from professional baseball,” Otto wrote on Instagram. “Baseball has been at the center of my identity since I was a kid. The game took me across the country, pushed me to my limits, humbled me, and gave me more than I could ever repay. It taught me how to compete with integrity, how to persevere through adversity, and how to carry myself when the lights were off and no one was watching.
“But even with all the game gave me, I often felt what St. Augustine wrote: ‘You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.’ That restlessness wasn’t frustration, it was the gentle reminder that no career, no matter how meaningful, can fully satisfy the deeper calling God places in each of our hearts,” Otto wrote.
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A native of Spring, Texas, Otto was chosen by the Yankees in the fifth round of the 2017 MLB Draft out of Rice University. Otto was ranked as the Yankees’ No. 28 prospect in 2021 by MLB Pipeline. In July of that year, Otto was one of four prospects traded to the Texas Rangers in the deal that sent Joey Gallo, a two-time All-Star, to New York.
While Gallo floundered in the Bronx, Otto got his first look in the big leagues with the Rangers. He made six starts as a rookie in 2021, going 0-3 with a 9.26 ERA.
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In 2022, Otto spent the entire season in the Rangers’ rotation, making only one trip to the injured list in June. He went 7-10 with a 4.64 ERA in 27 starts. He limited opponents to a .236 batting average but averaged only five innings a start.
Otto began the 2023 season on the injured list with a right shoulder strain, and wasn’t activated until June. He made only six appearances out of the Rangers’ bullpen that season, allowing 12 runs in 10.2 innings (10.13 ERA).
Otto was claimed off waivers by the San Diego Padres in September 2023, but did not appear in a big league game for them.
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