After seven teams, two championships, and 16 years as a Major League player, 2005 PA grad Daniel Hudson has announced his retirement from baseball. Last month, he helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series, a championship he first attained with the Washington Nationals in 2019. Throughout a career complicated by injuries, Hudson persevered to continuously come back from hardship and have success at the highest level of professional baseball.
Born in 1987 in Lynchburg, Virginia, Hudson grew up across the state here in Virginia Beach, where he excelled as one of the top baseball prospects in the area. Hudson played for the Tidewater Drillers, a travel team that produced future MLB teammates in Ryan Zimmerman and Chris Taylor.
He later found success playing for the Cavalier baseball team, excelling as a hitter and a pitcher. Hudson’s time at PA coincided with that of future professional players like Beamer Weems, Jake McAloose, and Zack Woods. In 2005, while approaching the end of his senior year, Hudson led Princess Anne through the VHSL regional and state tournaments, eventually reaching the state championship game in Williamsburg, against Osbourn High School. Both teams were looking for a first-ever Class AAA Virginia state title. Pitching for PA, Hudson fell into a hole early, as a combination of Osbourn’s hitting and Princess Anne’s fielding errors saw the Cavs fall behind 0-8.
Princess Anne soon mounted a comeback, scoring several runs in quick succession while getting shutout innings from Hudson on the mound. In the seventh inning, Hudson hit a bases-loaded RBI double that tied the game at 8-8, creating a deadlock that would persist into extra innings. Eventually, in the 12th, a walk-off single by McAloose gave Princess Anne its first, and only to this date, state championship for baseball. The final numbers for Hudson were excellent, and shocking by modern pitching standards. He pitched 10 innings total, allowing only one hit in the last seven, and finished with a grand total of 164 pitches thrown. This number is unlikely to ever be approached in local competition again, as the VHSL implemented a pitches cap of 110 in 2016. In 2020, The Virginian Pilot named it the greatest Virginia state championship game ever, across all sports.
Hudson was the Beach District Player of the Year in 2005, but he had some competition amongst fellow Hampton Roads high school graduates of the early 2000’s. 13NewsNow called this time period a “golden generation” for Southeastern Virginia baseball talent, producing Hudson, Zimmerman, Taylor, BJ along with Justin Upton, Mark Reynolds, and David Wright. All seven of these players had successful, lengthy careers in the Majors.
Hudson didn’t travel far for college, attending Old Dominion University. All-time pitching great Justin Verlander had recently ended his college career there after being drafted second overall in the MLB draft, leaving the top starting pitching spot open for the taking. Hudson transitioned well into college baseball, earning conference All-Rookie honors his freshman year. He followed that up with First Team All-CAA (Colonial Athletic Association) honors as a sophomore. As a junior, he led the conference with 107 strikeouts. In between NCAA seasons, Hudson played in the Cape Cod Baseball League, a prestigious wooden-bat summer league for collegiate players.
After being drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the fifth round of the 2008 draft, Hudson briefly competed for White Sox minor league teams. He was soon called up to the majors after a dominant 2009 season in which he was named the Minor League Starter of the Year.
His rise continued through 2010, where Hudson had a 1.69 Earned Run Average in 11 starts playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks. His next season in Arizona was the best of his career, posting 16 wins and a 3.49 ERA as part of a strong Diamondbacks rotation that reached the National League Division Series. To cap off an already solid season, he won the Silver Slugger award as the best-hitting pitcher in Major League Baseball. While his focus across his MLB career was pitching, his success at the plate didn’t end with his game-tying heroics back in 2005.
In 2012, however, challenges arose that threatened Hudson’s career as a pitcher. He struggled to repeat the previous year’s success, and sustained an elbow injury that necessitated Tommy John Surgery, an ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction that usually keeps pitchers out of competition for 10-18 months. It was a significant roadblock to a promising career, but Hudson was determined to get back on track through recovery and rehab work. But in his case, it wouldn’t be that simple. Hudson re-injured his arm shortly after returning to pitching, and was forced to miss the entire 2013 MLB season due to a second Tommy John Surgery.
Forty-five MLB Pitchers have needed two of these surgeries over the course of their careers, with many unable to return to the Majors due to the extreme stress that pitching puts on their throwing arm. Returning from the second injury, Hudson transitioned to become a relief pitcher in order to avoid high pitch count outings, while still playing an important role for Arizona. To pitch in MLB for five more seasons is unlikely, but to pitch for ten more is nearly impossible.
Over the next five seasons, he came out of the bullpen for the Diamondbacks, Pirates, Dodgers, and Blue Jays, while also having minor league deals with the Rays and Angels. His results weren’t stellar, but he remained an MLB mainstay despite a difficult injury history. One thing that he had yet to achieve, however, was a World Series win, which has eluded many successful players across MLB history.
In 2019, Hudson was traded to the Washington Nationals, the “hometown” team to his native Virginia Beach. He played alongside Kellam High School graduate Ryan Zimmerman, one of many key pieces in a Nationals season that was challenging for the franchise’s first ever world series title. In 24 appearances for the Nationals that season, Hudson had an exceptional 1.44 ERA. The Nationals advanced to play the Houston Astros in that year’s World Series, which came down to a winner-take-all game seven. It was close all throughout, but Washington pulled away to lead 6-2 going into the bottom of the ninth. It was called by MLB.com the biggest game in the history of the franchise, and one of the most significant games in recent baseball history.
And the pitcher looking to close it out would be Daniel Hudson.
With only one out left, Hudson battled all-star Michael Brantley, and worked him to a 3-2 count. Finally, he caught Brantley on a low changeup, giving the Nationals, and the entire baseball world, the World Series clinching moment of 2019. Hudson, of Virginia Beach, Chicago, Arizona, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Washington, had achieved the greatest peak in Major League Baseball, bringing coverage and excitement to Princess Anne High School in the process.
Throughout highs and lows in Daniel Hudson’s career, and after the triumph of 2019, it would be difficult to repeat that same success. Both him and the entire team struggled in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and the Nationals dealt Hudson to San Diego in 2021. He played well there, and that solid pitching extended into 2022, where he started a second stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers. For the second time in his career, he was among multiple Virginia Beach natives on an MLB roster, playing alongside Cox High School graduate Chris Taylor. In addition, he was on one of the best teams in baseball, which had won the World Series in 2020 and was looking for another title. By June, Hudson was pitching well with a 2.22 ERA according to Baseball Reference.
But that month, his career would again be threatened by injury. While attempting to get a putout at first base, Hudson suffered an ACL tear, a rare but serious injury among pitchers. His season was over, and it would take several months to recover. It wasn’t the first time that his career was set back by an injury, but Hudson was already 35 and reaching retirement age. According to the New York Times, he considered retiring from baseball, but decided to keep going. The Dodgers chose to keep him on the roster, but the rehab process was complicated by ankle and knee issues. Hudson signed a minor league deal to remain with the Dodgers organization for 2024, but there was no guarantee that he would make the Major League roster.
As an MLB veteran and solid relief pitcher, with a proven commitment to stay healthy and contribute to a Dodgers team that needed a player like him, Hudson soon found himself back in the game. When multiple other Dodgers relievers went down with injuries, Hudson went back up to a consistent place on the team. With a 6-2 record and 3.00 ERA, he was a reliable option for late game relief, and an important part of a complete, star-studded team that was the favorite for the World Series title.
After pitching well through the Division Series and League Championship Series, Hudson again reached the World Series. This would be the second, and final time he played in the Fall Classic, with a chance to retire on the highest of notes. It was an iconic matchup, as the Dodgers and Yankees faced off for a 12th World Series. The series itself was quick, however, as the Dodgers won in five games.
For Hudson, June 12th, 2005, and October 30th, 2019 had been marked by individual success and team victory, from a state title win at Princess Anne to a World Series win in Washington D.C.. He was a central figure of these moments, though that wasn’t the case when the Dodgers clinched the 2024 championship.
His last MLB appearance was less than great, giving up a grand slam and getting charged with the loss in game 4. But he was a World Series champion nonetheless, and his effective relief pitching across the 162-game regular season had allowed the Dodgers to reach this point in the first place. Speaking to the press after an on-field celebration, he reflected on his choice not to retire in 2023. Simply, he wanted to “go out on top.”
Hudson received a shoutout by the Princess Anne baseball team, who said his “hard work and dedication inspire us all.” Outside one of the dugouts at PA’s baseball field, a plaque lists the names from the 2005 state championship-winning roster. Very first on the list comes the most successful Cavalier baseball player ever.
Though the career of “Dan” Hudson was about more than just wins and accomplishments. It was about setbacks and comebacks, elite starts and critical relief, and a player who made Princess Anne, Virginia Beach, and his seven MLB teams proud to have had him.
