Not many American professional baseball players are born outside of the Continental US, but make an exception for C Kurt Suzuki. The Wailuku-born player is amazing at defending the plate and is an amazing hitter. Go Kurt!

Kurt was born on October 4, 1983 in Wailuku, HI, on the island of Maui. It must have been so cool to grow up on the beach.  But it was probably hard to play a real baseball game on the beach – the last thing people relaxing on the beach want is to be hit in the head with a baseball!

Kurt enrolled at Cal State Fullerton, a college in Fullerton, CA. In 2004, Kurt helped the Cal State Fullerton Titans win the College World Series. Because of this, he earned the nickname “Kurt Klutch”. He probably dreamed of being on a professional baseball field!

He got his chance when he was drafted in the 2004 First-Year Player Draft by the Oakland Athletics. He didn’t have much time to celebrate in Wailuku, because he went straight to the Single-A Vancouver Canadians and played like he was at the Double-A level. He still played really well with the Stockton Posts in California and the Midland RockHounds in Texas. The Sacramento River Cats was his last stop in the minor leagues. He made his MLB debut on June 12, 2007 for Oakland as a pinch hitter. They were playing Houston.  In Oakland, he played with his future Nats teammate Gio Gonzalez.

In 2012, Kurt got traded to the Nats for David Freitas. He was added to the team late in the season, after Wilson Ramos got hurt.  The Nats had other options behind the plate, but Mike Rizzo thought he could find a better player.

The next step in Kurt Suzuki’s career began last August with the Nats announcer saying “Introducing…NUMBER TWENTY FOUR, KURT SUZUKI!!!!!!!!!!!”

ONLY SIX MORE DAYS UNTIL KURT NEEDS TO REPORT TO VIERA!!!

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