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Faculty Details: Jon Suzuki - Temple University - Maurice H.Kornberg... dental.temple.edu | Largest Flower Threatened by David Suzuki... saskworld.com | ASN Oral History - Suzuki asneurochem.org | Kurt Bicycle Trainers Heavyweight Rock N Roll Trainer Exercise Equipment lifestylesport.com |
Kurt Kiyoshi Suzuki (born October 4, 1983, in Wailuku, Hawaii) is a Major League Baseball catcher for the Oakland Athletics.
[edit] College careerHe played at Cal State Fullerton, where he was a teammate of pitcher Jason Windsor, also a 2004 A's draftee. Cal State Fullerton captured the 2004 College World Series championship, thanks to Suzuki's two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning, giving the Titans a 3-2 win over the Texas Longhorns (whose closer, Huston Street, was also drafted by the A's in 2004). His time at Fullerton earned him the nickname "Kurt Klutch." Coincidentally, current backup Landon Powell was also in the 2004 College World Series, and was also drafted by the A's. That same year, he won the Johnny Bench Award as the country's top collegiate catcher. He was also selected All-American by two publications, Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. He was also the recipient of the first ever Brooks Wallace Award. Since graduating, Kurt and his wife Renee Suzuki (along with Orlando and Katie Cabrera) have helped out a former Titan catcher Jon Wilhite who was severely injured in a 2009 car crash that rocked MLB and Cal State Fullerton. [edit] Professional careerThe Athletics drafted him in the second round of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft and assigned him to the Single-A Vancouver Canadians, where he batted .297 and committed just one error in 46 games. His first full season of professional baseball came in 2005, with another Single-A team, the Stockton Ports. Playing in 114 games, Suzuki put up a .277 average, 12 home runs, 65 RBIs and a .440 slugging percentage. Moving up to the Double-A Midland RockHounds in 2006, Suzuki batted .285 with a .392 OBP. He began the 2007 season with the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, where he hit .280 with 3 home runs. He joined the major league club on June 9, 2007 after rarely used catcher Adam Melhuse was traded to the Texas Rangers and made his debut three days later as a pinch hitter in a game against the Houston Astros.[1][2] He served as backup to veteran Jason Kendall until Kendall was traded to the Chicago Cubs on July 16, making Suzuki the Athletics everyday catcher. On July 17, 2007, pitcher Shane Komine got into a game in the 8th inning against the Texas Rangers with Suzuki doing the catching. This marked the first time in major league baseball history that there was a battery where both players were from Hawaii. On September 10, 2007, Suzuki hit his first career grand slam in the second inning against the Mariners in Seattle. For the 2008 season, Suzuki was the starting catcher while Rob Bowen served as back-up. In the first 20 regular season games, Suzuki started 18. He ended the season with a .279 batting average in 148 games. [edit] Statistics
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] External links
Categories: 1983 births | Living people | Major League Baseball catchers | Cal State Fullerton Titans baseball players | Oakland Athletics players | Major League Baseball players from Hawaii | Japanese American sportspeople | All-Star Futures Game players | Vancouver Canadians players | Stockton Ports players | Sacramento River Cats players | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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