The way Caleb Clay comically sees it, Cullman’s professional baseball representatives are “dropping like flies.”

At four for the better part of two years, the number has been split in half as spring training kicks into full gear, with Clay and Chase Mallard hanging up their cleats during the offseason.

Clay, 28, is quick to point out he’s not officially retired just yet. Lingering elbow issues, a couple months as a newlywed and a scholarship that needed to be used before June, however, have all but made the choice for him.

Not that Clay is complaining.

After nine seasons on a “long road” since being drafted straight out of Cullman by the Boston Red Sox in the first round in 2006, he’s ready to embrace a life that, for the first time in decades, doesn’t include baseball.

“I kind of felt like it was just a good time,” he said. “It was all a culmination of still being hurt, not wanting to play, settling down, getting married and needing to be here. I was fortunate to play a lot longer than most and I was able to go out on my own terms. It’s not like I was trying to play and no one would have me. I think that gave me a little more peace of mind about it that it was really my decision.”

Clay spent almost all of his final professional season with the Reno Aces, the Triple-A affiliate for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Elbow pain put the hurler on the disabled list for the whole month of August and forced him to seek medical help.

Come to find out, Clay had a bone chip. He started throwing again once it was removed and continued to do so, but the discomfort from 801 1/3 professional innings and a pair of surgeries — the righty had Tommy John surgery not long after graduation — just didn’t seem worth it anymore.

Toss in arthritis, and Clay had more reasons to give up the sport than keep going.

“It’s still a little achey sometimes and it hurts when I try to straighten it all the way out, so I think I made the right decision,” he said. “Trying to throw would just make it even worse than it already is now. I didn’t want to be 40 and my shoulder hurt so bad I can’t raise my arm above my head; my elbow hurt so bad that I can’t twist a doorknob.

“That was kind of another thing — I wanted to get out while I was still pretty healthy.”

Clay’s career consisted on six seasons in the Red Sox farm system and one apiece as a prospect with the Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Angels and the Diamondbacks.

And that’s just in the States.

In 2014, Clay tried his hand overseas with the Korean Baseball Organization’s Hanwha Eagles.

It didn’t go so hot.

His subsequent return to the minors yielded a nice consolation prize, though, with Clay earning his first major league callup later that summer. He suited up for the Angels for a game but didn’t see the field and was sent back to Salt Lake after a couple of days.

Clay capped off his minor league résumé 37-47 with a 4.46 ERA, 470 strikeouts and a whole lot of memories.

“I’ve met a lot of people through baseball, good people, a lot of lifelong friends,” he said. “There’s a lot of life lessons that I’ve learned in 20-something years of baseball.”

Clay is currently attending Wallace State and plans to transfer to UAH this summer. He’s considering becoming an accountant or another business-oriented occupation.

All the recent rain and colder temperatures haven’t made Clay miss baseball too much thus far. He’s expecting that to change as the weather heats up and regular season MLB games begin.

Enough for him to change his mind?

Hardly.

“As of right now, I’m pretty happy with my decision,” he said. “I’m enjoying it so far, just being able to do a little bit more of what I want to. And not having to workout but getting to do whatever kind of workout I want to do. Whether that’s doing bench press every day or curls or whatever. Or not doing anything.

“I don’t have to do anything, which is nice to me.”

Clay was in the stands for Cullman’s season opener and will try to make a few games at home or in the area on weekends he has off. In the meantime, he’ll continue to keep up with his alma mater on social media.

That’s how Clay found out about a feat that left him raving.

“I never threw a no-hitter, and they threw no-hitters in back-to-back games,” he said. “That’s pretty impressive.”

Remember that part where Clay clarified he isn’t officially retired? That’s because there’s still the possibility he could contemplate non-conventional therapy methods, begin working out and throwing again, and land a roster spot in the pros sometime this summer.

As minuscule as it may be.

“The chances are very, very slim at this point,” he said. “But there still is a chance, I’ll say that. It’s not completely out.”

For Mallard, the door is already completely closed.

November nuptials and a minor league lifestyle didn’t mesh well for the 2010 Cullman High grad, leading him to move on after a short rookie season and a full campaign in the lower levels of the Toronto Blue Jays organization.

Mallard was taken by the Blue Jays in the 14th round of the 2014 draft after rounding out his career at UAB as the Conference USA Pitcher of the Year and a second-team All-American.

“It’s hard to say, but I think the marriage thing really, really was the biggest part of it,” he said. “It hit me pretty hard that this is my family now and I need to take care of her. Me being gone didn’t allow that.

“Just being away from home, that was kind of tough. Then, when you go through some tough times on the mound, that hits you pretty hard. I didn’t feel like I was in the right situation with the right people. And don’t get me wrong, there was a ton of great people. I just think it wasn’t for me.”

Mallard was 10-11 with a 4.56 ERA, five saves and 141 strikeouts scattered over 185 2/3 innings with three clubs — the Bluefield Blue Jays (rookie), the Vancouver Canadians (short-season Single-A) and the Lansing Lugnuts (Single-A).

Since returning to Cullman, Mallard, who has a degree in business management, has hopped on at R.E. Garrison as a driver manager.

He doesn’t plan on leaving any time soon.

“I think that’s kind of the thing about me — once I get into something, I fall in pretty deep,” he said. “I’m not somebody who’s just going to move around, try something for a while. I see myself staying there for awhile.”

Former Bearcats Josh Rutledge and Ben Moore enter spring training in the Red Sox system. Rutledge is battling for a major league spot after being sent outright to Triple-A Pawtucket in November. Moore is back following a season with Single-A Greenville cut short by an ACL tear.

“I have absolutely zero regrets for not going back, but spring training is something else,” Mallard said. “Seeing your buddies go back, it’s just rewarding to know that you did it, too. It was a cool experience.”