Troy Tulowitzki, a five-time All-Star with the Colorado Rockies who has missed most of the past two seasons with leg injuries, announced his retirement on Thursday, more than three months after he played in his last game for the New York Yankees.

"For as long as I can remember, my dream was to compete at the highest level as a Major League Baseball player ... to wear a big league uniform and play hard for my teammates and the fans," Tulowitzki said in the statement. "I will forever be grateful for every day that I've had to live out my dream. It has been an absolute honor.

"I will always look back with tremendous gratitude for having the privilege of playing as long as I did. There is no way to truly express my gratitude to the fans of Colorado, Toronto and New York. They always made my family and I feel so welcome."

Tulowitzki was NL Rookie of the Year runner-up in 2007, when he helped the Rockies reach the World Series for the only time in franchise history. He finished in the top 10 of the NL MVP voting three straight years from 2009-11; in all, he received MVP votes in six seasons.

He was traded to Toronto in the middle of 2015 and hit .254 with 24 homers and 79 RBIs the next year, his last full season in the majors. He spent most of 2017 on the disabled list with and ankle injuries, and then missed all of last season with following April 2018 surgery on both heels.

Tulowitzki played just five games this season -- his first with the Yankees -- before suffering a strained left calf on April 3.

"Even though injuries cut him short a little bit, it was a great career," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "What I'll remember is obviously a great player and a guy that played shortstop, a great shortstop, but played it in such a unique way and with a flair. ... He looked at home out there playing shortstop."

The two-time Gold Glove Award winner finishes his career with a .290 batting average with 225 home runs, 1,391 hits, 762 runs and 780 RBIs. Of his home runs, 223 came as a shortstop, which ranks seventh all time at the position.

He is one of three shortstops in major league history to with at least 20 home runs and a .290 average in six different seasons; the others are Alex Rodriguez (seven) and Nomar Garciaparra (six).

His best season was 2011, when he batted .302 with 30 home runs and 102 RBIs for the Rockies, with whom he broke into the majors in 2006.

He spent parts of 10 seasons in Colorado, and he still ranks among the franchise's top 10 in games played (1,048, fifth), runs (660, sixth), hits (1,165, seventh) and home runs (188, seventh).

He wore No. 2 in honor of Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.

"While this chapter is now over, I look forward to continuing my involvement in the game that I love ... instructing and helping young players achieve their goals and dreams," Tulowitzki said in the statement. "I'm saying goodbye to Major League Baseball, but I will never say goodbye 2 the game I love."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.