While at UCLA, Utley played collegiate summer baseball for the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League in 1998, and returned to the league in 1999 to play for the Cotuit Kettleers.

Utley played baseball at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, alongside former MLB player, Milton Bradley (baseball) and at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for the UCLA Bruins. In high school, his coach said that Utley had “the fastest hands he had ever seen on a high school player.” He hit over .500 his senior year, with a slugging percentage of over 1.000, struck out just twice in 80 at bats, and earned high school All-American honors. He also set a school single-season record with 14 home runs Utley was drafted in the second round of the 1997 Major League Baseball draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers with the 76th pick, but turned down a $850,000 offer by the Dodgers to attend UCLA. A star shortstop in high school, the Bruins instead moved him to second base because his arm strength was more of a liability at shortstop. He hit .382 with 22 home runs as a junior at UCLA in 2000 while leading the Bruins to the NCAA Super Regionals. He was selected to the All-Pac-10 team and the Sporting News and National Collegiate Baseball Writers first team All-American teams.

Utley was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the first round (15th pick) of the 2000 amateur draft. At the time, the team’s scouting director claimed he was a combination of Jeff Kent and Adam Kennedy. He signed on July 29, 2000, for a $1,780,000 signing bonus.

Utley played for the Phillies’ farm system with the Batavia Muckdogs of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League in 2000, the Clearwater Phillies of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League in 2001, and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons of the Class AAA International League in 2002 and 2003. He was selected to the All-Star Futures Game in 2001 and made the International League post-season all-star team in 2003.

Utley made his major league debut on April 4, 2003, as a pinch hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was struck out swinging by Jeff Suppan in his first at-bat. In his first major league start, on April 24 against the Colorado Rockies, Utley recorded his first major league hit, a grand slam off Aaron Cook. He was optioned back to the minors on April 30 recalled by the Phillies again in August 2003, to replace Plácido Polanco at second base (Polanco was moved to third to compensate for the loss of third baseman David Bell to the disabled list). Utley scored the final game winning RBI in Phillies history at Veterans Stadium, on September 27, 2003. Utley recorded the final at-bat at Veterans Stadium by grounding into a game-ending double play on September 28, 2003. In 43 games, he had a .239 batting average.

playing more. He played in 94 games for the Phillies in 2004 (which included 13 at first base) and hit .266 with 13 homers and 57 RBI.

In June 2005, the Phillies traded Polanco to the Tigers for pitcher Ugueth Urbina and infielder Ramón Martínez. As a full-time starter Utley hit .291 with 28 homers and 105 RBI and also stole 16 bases. He was selected by the Philadelphia chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America as the co-recipient of the 2005 Mike Schmidt Most Valuable Player Award.

Utley was a member of Team USA in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, and was selected by fans to start at second base for the National League at the 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. In November, he traveled to Japan with other major league stars to compete against Japanese All-Stars in an exhibition tournament.

During the 2006 season, Utley maintained a 35-game hitting streak—the second-longest streak in Phillies history behind teammate Jimmy Rollins, who hit for 38 straight games between 2005 and 2006 (36 games in 2005 and two in 2006). Utley tied Luis Castillo, who had a 35-game hitting streak in 2002, for the longest hitting streak by a second baseman. Utley’s streak was also the longest for a purely left-handed hitter since Tommy Holmes’ 37-game streak in 1945. As a result, Utley was named the National League Player of the Month for July 2006.

On January 21, 2007, the day after his wedding, Utley signed a 7-year, $85 million contract extension with the Phillies.

After starting the season hot, Utley was again selected by the fans to be the starting second baseman in the 2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which was his second All-Star selection. However, on July 26, Utley was hit by a pitch thrown by Washington Nationals pitcher John Lannan; he broke the fourth metacarpal bone in his right hand. “I’ll be back. Don’t worry, guys,” Utley said after the game. “It’s a break, but not that bad of a break. I definitely expect to be back … this season.” He had successful surgery on his hand, but as a result of the surgery, he was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Utley returned to the lineup on August 27, hit a home run and an RBI double, went 3 for 5, and drew a curtain call from the hometown crowd.

Utley finished the season with a .332 batting average, 22 home runs, 103 RBIs and 48 doubles (second in the National League). He helped the Phillies to their first playoff appearance in fourteen seasons as the team capped a dramatic comeback by clinching the National League East division title on the final day of the regular season. Utley’s offensive performance also earned him a Silver Slugger Award for the second consecutive season. He had two hits in 11 at-bats as the Phillies were swept in three games by the Colorado Rockies in the 2007 National League Division Series.

Utley met his wife, Jennifer, while they were undergrads at UCLA. They married in January 2007 and have two children. They reside in Sausalito, California, during the offseason. The couple are avid animal lovers, having raised over $45,000 for the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Utley appeared on behalf of PETA in their “Adopt Don’t Buy” video, encouraging people to find companion animals at shelters. Utley and his wife are vocal proponents of rescue dogs and are particularly fond of pit bulls.

Though his bat cooled a bit in May (his monthly average was .259), Utley still hit eight more home runs in the month, breaking the Phillies franchise record for home runs before June – Cy Williams (1923) and Ryan Howard (2006) shared the previous mark of 18 – and knocked in 26 RBIs. When Howard hit his 15th home run on May 30, he and Utley became the first pair of Phillies to hit 15 home runs each before June. On May 13, 2008, Utley received an unexpected accolade from lifelong baseball fan (and 43rd US President) George W. Bush, who stated in an interview with politico.com that Utley would be the first position player he would select if he were an MLB team owner. He was also selected by Fitness Magazine as one of the 25 “fittest guys in the country.”

On June 1, Utley hit his Major League-leading 20th home run and drove in his National League-leading 50th run as part of a comeback win against the Florida Marlins that propelled the Phillies back into first place in the National League East; the 1-for-2 performance capped a productive week for Utley that earned him the National League Player of the Week Award, his fifth, for the first time since April 23–29, 2007. The next night, Utley hit another home run for another streak of five games with a longball amidst a span of eight games with seven home runs (from May 25 to June 2). Utley hit the first in a set of back-to-back-to-back Philadelphia home runs in a 20–2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on June 13, along with Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell. It was the seventh time that the Phillies had hit three consecutive home runs, the first time since May 18, 2004, and the fourth occurrence by any team in the 2008 Major League Baseball season.

Following the ensuing World Series parade on October 31, 2008, culminating in a celebration at Citizens Bank Park, Utley came up to the microphone after being introduced by Harry Kalas and said to the fans in the stadium: “World champions. World fucking champions!” As he said this, his teammate Jayson Werth jumped up in roaring approval. The Philadelphia crowd erupted in prolonged cheers. The expletive was broadcast live on multiple Philadelphia television stations, which had not placed the celebration on tape delay.

In 2009, he was named #6 on the Sporting News’ list of the 50 greatest current players in baseball. A panel of 100 baseball people, many of them members of the Baseball Hall of Fame and winners of major baseball awards, was polled to arrive at the list.

In 2009 Utley led the majors in hit by pitch, with 24. Utley also had a perfect stolen-base percentage in 2009, with 23 steals, setting a record for most steals in a single season without being caught.

His batter introductory music in Philadelphia and in Los Angeles was the song “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin. Utley appeared alongside teammate Ryan Howard as himself on the 2010 episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia “The Gang Gets Stranded in the Woods”. On September 3, 2013, Utley responded to a letter written by Mac from the show years earlier.

On August 7, 2013 it was announced that Utley and the Phillies had agreed on a two-year, $27 million contract extension with multiple vesting options.

On August 19, 2015, Utley was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Darnell Sweeney and John Richy. In his first game as a Dodger, Utley impressed with his aggressive baserunning, an area in which the Dodgers had struggled most of the season. On August 30, Utley was the final out of a no-hitter for the second time in as many years, this time against the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta. As a Dodger, he was in 34 games and hit .202/.291/.363 with three homers and nine RBIs in 124 at bats. He also played three games at third base, the first time he had played there in the majors.

On October 10, 2015, during the second game of the 2015 National League Division Series, Utley slid into Rubén Tejada of the New York Mets in an attempt to break up what might have been an inning-ending double play, fracturing Tejada’s right fibula in the collision. Utley was ruled safe by the umpires after a video review. The Dodgers, who were losing 2-1 at the time of the incident, rallied to win the game 5-2. Major League Baseball suspended Utley for two games for his conduct “in violation of Official Baseball Rule 5.09 (a) (13), which is designed to protect fielders from precisely this type of rolling block that occurs away from the base.” Utley appealed the suspension and remained active for the rest of the Dodgers post-season games. MLB subsequently dropped Utley’s suspension on March 6, 2016, with Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre stating “There wasn’t anything clear-cut to say that play violated a rule.”

On May 28, 2016, in a regular season game against the New York Mets, Utley hit a solo home run and a grand slam, after he was thrown at by Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard in the third inning in an apparent retaliation for Utley’s slide on Rubén Tejada during the 2015 NLDS. He scored his 1,000th career run on June 22 against the Washington Nationals. On July 6, during a 14-inning 6-4 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, Utley had a career-high six hits and became the third-oldest player to accomplish such a feat. He was honored with the 2016 Roy Campanella Award. He appeared in 138 games in 2016, hitting .252/.319/.396 with 14 homers and 52 RBIs.

In February 2017, Utley signed a one-year, $2 million, contract to return to the Dodgers. He recorded his 1,000th career RBI with a double off Neftalí Feliz of the Kansas City Royals on July 7. On September 16, Utley recorded his 400th career double in a game against the Washington Nationals In 2017, he batted .236/.324/.405 in 309 at bats with eight home runs and 34 RBIs in 127 games played.

In the 2017 post-season, he was hitless in 15 at-bats, with five strikeouts, two walks and two hit by pitches. In Game 6 Utley was the oldest to score a go-ahead run in a World Series elimination game since Enos Slaughter in 1957.

On February 17, 2018, Utley re-signed with the Dodgers for two years and $2 million. Utley was hit by a pitch on April 18 for the 200th time in his career, becoming only the eighth player all-time to be hit by 200 career pitches.

On July 13, Utley announced his intention to retire after the conclusion of the 2018 season. His final MLB game was on September 30, 2018, where at San Francisco he struck out against Steven Okert in his only at-bat.