It’s a time of celebration for 30 MLB players this season, no matter if they or their team are finding success on the diamond. They’re joining one of the increasingly rare clubs for players to be a part of—MLB full pension earners.
MLB players earn their full pension benefits once they’ve reached 10 full years of MLB service time, meaning they’ve spent a decade on a big league roster. That’s become harder to do in recent years, as teams continue to shift away from signing veterans in their early to mid-30s in favor of calling up younger players from the minor leagues.
So what happens when a player reaches their big 10-year milestone? Besides a big celebration in the clubhouse and a nice article on the player association’s website, a decade of service means the player is fully vested in the MLBPA pension fund. In 2026, the full-pension amount is estimated at $290,000 per year. That may seem like small potatoes compared to current player salaries, but it’s an especially big number for those who played before modern-day salary inflation.
Joining the 10-year fraternity is a hallmark moment for the few lucky enough to achieve it, but the full pension is just the cherry on top of other service time milestones that a player accrues as he advances through his career. At 43 days of service (a quarter of a year of service time), a player earns their first pension benefits. Four years of service time earns a player healthcare benefits through the union for the rest of their life. Eight years in, a player gets every fan’s dream: The MLB Lifetime Pass, granting free attendance for the player and a guest to any regular-season game.
Congratulations to the following players on their decade of service!
Cy Young Veterans
- Blake Snell: 1161 IP, 81 W, 1445 K | 3.17 ERA, 1.22 WHIP | 26.5 fWAR, 25.1 bWAR
- Edwin Díaz: 525.1 IP, 257 SV, 849 K | 2.91 ERA, 1.05 WHIP | 15.3 fWAR, 13.5 bWAR
Given his spotty injury track record, Blake Snell doesn’t often come to mind when we think of the top arms of his generation, but he’s one of just 23 pitchers in MLB history to win multiple Cy Young Awards.
The now 33-year-old southpaw originally broke onto the big league scene with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2016, and just two years later, reached pitching apex for the first time, tossing 180.2 innings with a 1.89 ERA and 0.97 WHIP to claim the AL Cy Young. Fast forward five years, and he was up to those antics again, this time in the National League. In 2023, his MLB-leading 2.25 ERA earned him his second Cy Young.
Outside those two years, Snell’s been good, but not great. He’s never even topped 130 innings in any of his other seasons, dampening his chance at reaching high-water counting stat milestones. From a bWAR perspective, Snell accumulated more value in his two Cy Young campaigns (13.6) than he has in his other eight seasons combined (11.5).
Edwin Díaz is one of the rare relievers who’s been good enough to garner Cy Young votes. While he was never a serious contender to bring home the hardware, he finished eighth and ninth in voting in 2018 and 2022, respectively.
With 257 career saves, Díaz ranks fifth among active relievers in locking down his team’s victories. Still 32 years old, Díaz has a healthy shot at inserting himself into the rarified air of relief pitcher Hall of Fame discussions. Just 31 relievers have ever reached 300 saves, 14 have touched 350, and eight have eclipsed 400. Assuming good health, none of those numbers seem out of the question for Díaz.
MVP Threats
- Aaron Judge: .291/.411/.611 | 385 HR, 916 R, 868 RBI, 70 SB | 63.7 fWAR, 64.5 bWAR
- Trea Turner: .293/.345/.471 | 196 HR, 930 R, 672 RBI, 331 SB | 47.7 fWAR, 41.6 bWAR
- Alex Bregman: .270/.363/.471 | 216 HR, 800 R, 757 RBI, 45 SB | 44.6 fWAR, 45.3 bWAR
- Ketel Marte: .280/.349/.473 | 188 HR, 737 R, 641 RBI, 69 SB | 34.6 fWAR, 37.6 bWAR
Three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge will join the 10-year club this year, but that’s just a small footnote in a track record that places him among the game’s greatest hitters of all time. His career 176 wRC+ is the third-best mark in MLB history, trailing just Babe Ruth and Ted Williams.
Judge didn’t even make his professional baseball debut until he was 22 years old after playing three full years of college ball with Fresno State. Add a few years in the Yankees’ minor league system, and Judge’s first full season of big league action didn’t happen until the ripe old age of 25. If Judge continues to perform at his elite level for a few more seasons, the “what if Aaron Judge debuted a few years earlier” could become one of baseball’s great what-ifs. Would 700 home runs have been on the table?
Don’t let Trea Turner’s 2026 struggles make you forget just how good the Phillies’ shortstop has been, not just throughout his career, but in recent seasons, too. Turner’s 6.7 fWAR in 2025 represents the second-highest mark of his illustrious career, but it’s his consistency that may be most impressive. He’s never had a season with less than 3 fWAR (2020 excluded, although he nearly reached that plateau in the shortened season, too).
Speaking of consistency, how about Alex Bregman? The three-time All-Star has been one of the most consistent hitters in baseball since his 2016 debut. He’s posted six seasons with at least 4 fWAR and seven with a 120 wRC+ or better. The long-time Astro will forever carry an asterisk for his role in Houston’s infamous sign-stealing scandal, but even the harshest critic can’t argue with the impressive numbers on the back of his baseball card.
For some reason, it felt surprising to see Ketel Marte with 10 years of service time. Probably because it took the Diamondbacks’ superstar a few years of toiling at the MLB level to really hit his stride. Marte struggled to an 84 wRC+ through his first 968 plate appearances before he broke out with a 3 fWAR campaign in 2018, his second in Arizona. Since that season, he’s slashed .285/.358/.504 while averaging 4.3 fWAR per season.
All-Star Pitchers
- José Berríos: 1571.2 IP, 108 W, 1481 K | 4.08 ERA, 1.24 WHIP | 21.1 fWAR, 17.2 bWAR
- Joe Musgrove: 1056 IP, 66 W, 1050 K | 3.73 ERA, 1.17 WHIP | 18.4 fWAR, 15 bWAR
Are you surprised to learn that José Berríos ranks second in fWAR among this year’s group of pitchers reaching 10 years of service time? I was! We can blame recency bias for that being a shock, because there was a five-year period where he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. From 2017-2021, Berríos ranked 14th among starters with 15.2 fWAR. During that time, he was a two-time All-Star and posted a 3.74 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and 17.4% K-BB%. Since then, things haven’t been particularly great, especially the last two years. We won’t see Berríos on an MLB mound until 2027 after he underwent Tommy John surgery in May.
Although Joe Musgrove has been in the league for a decade, his career really didn’t take off until he was traded to the San Diego Padres in 2021. In 496.2 innings for the Astros and Pirates prior to 2021, Musgrove went 29-38 with a 4.33 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and 16.4% K-BB%. Since 2021, in 559.1 innings for the Padres, Musgrove is 37-24 with a 3.20 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and 19.4% K-BB%. Musgrove is currently working his way back from Tommy John surgery, so it remains to be seen what version we’ll get of the 33-year-old righty.
All-Star Hitters
- Dansby Swanson: .248/.317/.411 | 175 HR, 728 R, 680 RBI, 116 SB | 30.4 fWAR, 30.6 bWAR
- Byron Buxton: .250/.310/.496 | 193 HR, 579 R, 479 RBI, 124 SB | 29.9 fWAR, 32.9 bWAR
- Brandon Nimmo: .262/.361/.437 | 143 HR, 626 R, 492 RBI, 57 SB | 29.2 fWAR, 27.6 bWAR
- Willson Contreras: .259/.354/.464 | 189 HR, 565 R, 596 RBI, 38 SB | 26.8 fWAR, 32.3 bWAR
- Max Muncy: .232/.355/.476 | 230 HR, 640 R, 638 RBI, 19 SB | 25.6 fWAR, 29.8 bWAR
- Michael Conforto: .245/.342/.442 | 183 HR, 582 R, 571 RBI, 24 SB | 19.8 fWAR, 17 bWAR
- Jorge Polanco: .262/.328/.440 | 155 HR, 553 R, 572 RBI, 61 SB | 18 fWAR, 20.2 bWAR
This year’s 10-year class features a lot more hitters than pitchers who have remained highly productive into their early 30s. Dansby Swanson headlines the group by fWAR standards. Despite being just about league-average with the bat in most seasons (career 96 wRC+), Swanson’s excellence on the basepaths and in fielding a premium position has kept the former number one overall pick a valuable asset for the Braves and Cubs.
Three outfielders with very different career paths are celebrating a decade of MLB service time. Byron Buxton has legitimate MVP upside, but health has held him back. He didn’t record 500 plate appearances in a season until 2025, despite making his MLB debut back in 2015. Brandon Nimmo has been as steady as they come. The 33-year-old lefty swinger has posted an above-average wRC+ in every season of his big league career since getting his cup of coffee in 2016. He’s reached 650 plate appearances in four straight seasons. Michael Conforto hasn’t had the consistency of his former Mets teammate, nor the sky-high ceiling of Buxton. Conforto looked like a perennial All-Star during an excellent three-season stretch from 2017-2019 (11.8 fWAR, 129 wRC+), but has struggled to stay on the field and be much better than an average hitter since. This season marks Conforto’s third team in the last three years.
Willson Contreras, the long-time catcher turned first baseman, has not just continued his productive hitting ways in his first season in Boston, but he is tracking for the best offensive season of his career. Hitting at Fenway can do that to very talented batters. Across the diamond, we’ll find the Dodgers’ lefty slugger, Max Muncy. His career 127 wRC+ ranks 42nd among hitters since his 2015 MLB debut. Injuries have been a big part of Muncy’s story, particularly in recent years. His 230 career home runs would likely be nearing the 300 mark with a cleaner bill of health. Jorge Polanco has made a career of moving around the infield and putting up strong campaigns every couple of seasons. In Polanco’s three best years (2019, 2021, and 2025), he accumulated more fWAR (9.9) than he has in his other eight seasons combined (8).
The Survivors: Pitchers
- Chris Bassitt: 1335 IP, 87 W, 1228 K | 3.71 ERA, 1.26 WHIP | 19.9 fWAR, 18.2 fWAR
- Luis Severino: 1134.2 IP, 75 W, 1138 K | 3.93 ERA, 1.23 WHIP | 19.2 fWAR, 16 bWAR
- Jameson Taillon: 1304.2 IP, 84 W, 1122 K | 3.94 ERA, 1.20 WHIP | 18.1 fWAR, 14.3 bWAR
- Germán Márquez: 1179 IP, 71 W, 1089 K | 4.70 ERA, 1.34 WHIP | 17.3 fWAR, 16.3 bWAR
- Sean Manaea: 1313 IP, 80 W, 1252 K | 4.14 ERA, 1.21 WHIP | 17.2 fWAR, 14.3 bWAR
- Zach Eflin: 1077.1 IP, 68 W, 929 K | 4.28 ERA, 1.24 WHIP | 16.1 fWAR, 12.9 bWAR
- Seth Lugo: 1089.1 IP, 67 W, 16 SV, 1030 K | 3.55 ERA, 1.19 WHIP | 16.0 fWAR, 18.4 bWAR
- Matthew Boyd: 1121.1 IP, 63 W, 1082 K | 4.59 ERA, 1.28 WHIP | 15.3 fWAR, 12.2 bWAR
- Miles Mikolas: 1336.2 IP, 74 W, 942 K | 4.32 ERA, 1.22 WHIP | 14.5 fWAR, 9.9 bWAR
- Taylor Rogers: 573.2 IP, 35 W, 85 SV, 653 K | 3.48 ERA, 1.22 WHIP | 8.9 fWAR, 7.5 bWAR
- Matt Strahm: 546 IP, 37 W, 15 SV, 603 K | 3.46 ERA, 1.11 WHIP | 7.9 fWAR, 11.1 bWAR
- Carlos Estévez: 485.2 IP, 124 SV, 494 K | 4.08 ERA, 1.33 WHIP | 4.9 fWAR, 6.4 bWAR
Not a lot of pitchers make it this far into their careers as regular members of their team’s starting rotation, but a handful on this list have that distinction. Chris Bassitt has been the definition of reliable. From 2022 through 2025, he started at least 30 games and threw 170+ innings in each season. You can extend that stretch back to 2019 if you lower the threshold to 25 starts per season. Similarly, Jameson Taillon has been an above-average innings eater practically since he debuted in 2016. He’s made at least 25 starts in every full season of his MLB career except one, providing the exact type of steady back-end arm that so many teams need in their rotation.
Sean Manaea is another reliable arm who has reached 150 innings five times across his decade-long MLB career. At times, he’s shown flashes of reaching All-Star caliber, but he’s never been able to string together multiple seasons of that next-level kind of stuff. He topped out at 3.3 fWAR in 2021 and looked great again in his 2.8 fWAR 2024 season with the Mets. Nearly a third of Zach Eflin’s career fWAR came in his dominant 2023 campaign with the Rays (4.9 fWAR). Outside of 2023, Eflin’s been a reliable back-of-the-rotation righty who has posted 10+ win seasons five separate times.
One of the more interesting career paths you’ll find in this article belongs to Miles Mikolas. The former seventh-round draft pick struggled in the bullpen with the Padres in his first two big league stints before the Rangers gave him a starting gig in 2014. Mikolas’ struggles worsened as a starter, though, and after posting a 6.44 ERA through 10 starts, his time in MLB seemed over as he headed to Japan. During three years in the NPB, Mikolas went 31-13 with a 2.18 ERA, and he returned stateside on a multi-year contract with the Cardinals. His first year back, 2018, proved to be his best season. He posted a 2.83 ERA and 1.07 WHIP, generated 4.3 fWAR, was named an All-Star, and even finished sixth place in the National League Cy Young voting. Mikolas received another All-Star nod in 2022, but has largely fallen flat in the years since.
Injuries play some kind of role in any MLB player’s story who lasts long enough to join the decade club, but three starters from this group stand out in that regard. Luis Severino has only hit the 100-inning mark in five of his big league seasons, but he’s proved effective more often than not. From 2017-2018, only four starters posted more fWAR than Severino’s 11. He was an All-Star and finished in the top 10 in Cy Young voting in both seasons. Germán Márquez had to deal with Coors Field for the better part of a decade, so the fact he made it this long at the game’s highest level is impressive in its own right. His Coors-inflated numbers don’t tell his full story. From 2017 to 2021, Márquez ranked 13th among all starting pitchers in fWAR (15.6). He also won the National League Pitcher Silver Slugger award in 2018 for his impressive .300/.300/.350 slash line. Matthew Boyd is the most injury-plagued player on this list. He’s pitched in every big league season since 2015, but has only reached 100 innings four times. Despite his injury history, Boyd’s been able to stay healthier in recent seasons and has finally gotten to show off what he can do on the mound. His 3.21 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in 2025 earned him his first All-Star selection.
Seth Lugo has notably had a successful career as both a starter and a reliever. The Mets could never fully commit to what role they wanted Lugo to fill as he bounced back and forth between the bullpen and starting rotation, although he did spend most of his time in Queens as a reliever. From 2016 to 2022, among all relievers, Lugo ranked 25th in ERA (2.91), 48th in K-BB% (20.7%), and 36th in fWAR (4.6). Since departing New York in free agency, Lugo has been very good as a starter for both the Padres and Royals, posting a 3.62 ERA and 1.21 WHIP since 2023.
Rounding out our final tier of pitchers are the pure bullpen arms. Matt Strahm has been one of the game’s best lefty relievers throughout most of his career. He has five seasons with an ERA below 3.00 and five seasons where he’s made at least 50 appearances. His best individual campaign was 2024 in Philadelphia, where he pitched to a 1.87 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, and 28.7% K-BB%. He deservedly made the National League All-Star team that year. Taylor Rogers flew well under the radar during his first stint in Minnesota. From 2016 to 2021, Rogers was quietly one of the game’s best relievers, compiling 7.1 fWAR (12th) and 361 strikeouts (18th). Better yet, he rarely issued free passes, with his 5.9% walk rate ranking 17th-best during that stretch. Rogers has continued to provide solid lefty innings for six different clubs since 2022. Lastly, Carlos Estévez has hung around the league as a good, not great, late-inning arm. He spent his first six seasons in Colorado before signing with the Angels in 2023. Since leaving high altitude, Estévez has enjoyed the best four seasons of his career and has even established himself as a worthy closer. His 99 saves since 2023 are the sixth most in baseball.
The Survivors: Hitters
- Gary Sánchez: .224/.312/.461 | 197 HR, 443 R, 533 RBI, 6 SB | 15.1 fWAR, 14.7 bWAR
- Adam Frazier: .263/.326/.382 | 68 HR, 526 R, 389 RBI, 63 SB | 11.4 fWAR, 15.4 bWAR
- Andrew Benintendi: .265/.335/.417 | 128 HR, 609 R, 597 RBI, 87 SB | 10.9 fWAR, 16.1 bWAR
- Josh Bell: .256/.339/.443 | 206 HR, 651 R, 736 RBI, 5 SB | 10.0 fWAR, 9.5 bWAR
- Austin Hedges: .190/.249/.318 | 77 HR, 228 R, 262 RBI, 17 SB | 9.9 fWAR, -1.2 bWAR
Two catchers pop up in our survivor tier, and their careers couldn’t be more dissimilar. Gary Sánchez burst onto the MLB scene and looked like he’d become one of the best catchers in baseball for the foreseeable future. Across his first season and a half in 2016 and 2017, Sánchez slashed .284/.354/.568, hit 53 home runs, and generated 7.1 fWAR. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to maintain that incredible early-career production, but he’s made a great career out of being a bat-first backup catcher and has made two All-Star teams over his decade of MLB service. Checking in as Sánchez’s polar opposite is Austin Hedges. A quick glance at his career slash line listed above tells you most of the story. He can’t hit much at all, but his fielding and game-calling are some of the best in the business. FanGraphs’ Framing metric ranks Hedges as the 10th-best framer for the period for which we have data. Similarly, Statcast’s Fielding Run Value gives Hedges the best mark of all catchers since the stat began being tracked in 2018. Hedges’ 88 FRV laps the competition, besting the second-place finisher by more than 30 runs of value.
Adam Frazier has made a career out of being a contact-oriented second baseman who’s been flexible enough to move around the diamond when needed. His best season earned him his one All-Star nod. He slashed .324/.388/.448 for the Pirates in 2021 before being traded at the deadline. Although he’s turned into a reliable veteran, Andrew Benintendi’s lofty prospect pedigree makes his career numbers feel underwhelming. Benintendi was one of the most heralded prospects in the game before he debuted with the Red Sox in 2016. Two years later, it seemed like he was stepping into stardom with his .290/.366/.465 slash line. He hit 16 homers while swiping 21 bags and posted 4.3 fWAR. That season served as a peak, not a new baseline of performance. Benintendi has only posted league-average production or better at the plate in four of the following eight seasons. Josh Bell is the definition of consistency. For the last decade, seven different teams have plugged him into their first base mix and have gotten 600 plate appearances, a .250 batting average, and 20+ homers from the switch-hitting slugger. It almost feels automatic at this point. Bell’s also become a consistent trade deadline target. He’s been traded at three of the last four deadlines.
