Kurt Suzuki

[William Malone]

Kurtis Kiyoshi Suzuki was born on October 4, 1983 in Wailuku, Hawaii.

The Oakland Athletics selected him in round two of the 2004 MLB Draft. He made his Major League debut for them in 2007, and was their primary starting catcher until getting dealt to the Washington Nationals at the trade deadline in 2012. Washington traded Suzuki back to Oakland at the deadline in 2013. During those first seven seasons of his big league career, Suzuki hit .253 with 67 home runs and 359 RBI over 840 games.

Joe Mauer was set to make the full time switch to first base in 2014. The Minnesota Twins filled his spot behind home plate by signing Suzuki to a one year, $3.3 million deal in free agency. His Twins tenure got off to a fast start. Suzuki drove in three runs on Opening Day, and continued to produce offensively as the year went along. He was named an All-Star, entering the break with a .309 average. 

Minnesota found themselves out of the playoff race when the deadline came around, and Suzuki was often mentioned in trade rumors. However, the Twins signed him to a multi-year extension through the 2016 campaign on deadline day. He finished 2014 with a .288 average, which led all American League catchers that season.

Suzuki slashed .240/296/.314 in 2015. His .610 OPS ranked 17th among the 19 catchers who caught at least 100 games. He rebounded a bit in 2016, slashing .258/.301/.403 on a 103 loss Twins team. Suzuki left in free agency that winter, signing a one year deal with the Atlanta Braves. Minnesota replaced him with veteran backstop Jason Castro.

He hit a career high 19 home runs despite starting just 71 games for Atlanta in 2017. Suzuki spent the rest of his career as a platoon or backup catcher, only starting the majority of his team's games once (87 starts for the Braves in 2018). He won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019. Suzuki was 3-for-30 with one RBI during that postseason run, starting ten of their 17 playoff games.

His final big league season came in 2022 with the Los Angeles Angels. Los Angeles hired him to a front office role in 2023.

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