Sad Chart Shows Exactly Why Roy Halladay Is Retiring Just 3 Years After Winning The Cy Young Award

Halladay was one of the best pitchers of the last decade and the move comes as a surprise to many as Halladay is just 36 years old and three years removed from winning the National League Cy Young Award.

But things began to fall apart in 2012 and 2013 when Halladay made just 38 starts in the two seasons combined and his ERA ballooned to 5.15.

But rather than try to make a comeback, the free agent will retire and the chart below from BrooksBaseball.net perfectly explains why (via Matt Sussman). The chart shows the velocity of Halladay's pitches every month since the start of the 2007 season. It's clear that Halladay's arm just wasn't the same the last two years as his velocity plummeted.

Losing velocity is not the end of the world. Many great pitchers reinvented themselves after major injuries cost them to lose their great fastball. But Halladay's drop in velocity comes at the age of 36 and after having already earned $149 million in his career.