Xander Bogaerts Salutes Koji Uehara On Instagram After Closer Retires

Koji Uehara, at 44-years-old, has called it a career.

The longtime relief pitcher, who had some great years with the Red Sox and won a World Series with Boston in 2013, announced his retirement from baseball. After spending 2017 with the Chicago Cubs, he returned to Japan to play for the Yomiuri Giants, the team he kicked off his career with back in 1999.

After the Red Sox’s blowout win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday, Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts saluted his former teammate on Instagram.

Safe to say Uehara left his mark on quite a few players over the years.