Kurt Suzuki - Major League Baseball Player
My hometown major league baseball team, the Washington Nationals, made a trade and acquired Kurt Suzuki, catcher, from the Oakland A's before the trade deadline this season. I knew the name, but I didn't know much about him. the Nationals GM, it was reported, had always had his eyes on Kurt, having scouted him since Kurt's playing time in college. Kurt was also acquired because of his solid defensive capabilities and to provide depth to the Nationals at that position. Starting catcher Willy Ramos is out for the season with a torn ACL. The minor league call up is capable but may not be as strong defensively and experienced yet.
So far, Kurt is making the transition from the American League to the National League. I believe he's had about 10 games under his belt, catching a pretty good stable of Nats pitchers and having to quickly get caught up to speed on his new pitching crew. As of this writing ,the Nats have the best record in baseball. Kurt's batting hasn't come around, he's batting around .200, but he's still transitioning from the American league and hasn't played that long with the Nats yet. I would expect to see his numbers rise.
Kurt was born in Hawaii and played for Cal State Fullerton, where Kurt helped Cal State win the 2004 college world series over the University of Texas by driving in the game winning run on a single in the 7th inning. He was won the Johnny Bench award for the best collegiate catcher. In the 2004 draft, he was selected by the Oakland A's. In 2007, Kurt had his major league debut with the A's. His career batting average is .257 and I expect his hitting to come around soon as he gets more familiar with National league pitchers.
Kurt and his wife Renee have a baby daughter. They also run the Kurt Suzuki Family Foundation to raise funds to combat kidney disease and to promote kidney health and awareness; both Kurt and his wife have been affected by kidney disease in their own families. According to the Washington Post, he's fitting in fine with the ball club and he seems like a genuinely good guy. Welcome to DC, Kurt!
Comments
Moreover, these athletes I write about, especially the American born, are the role models or can be the role models for some kids. I'm certainly not writing about them because I'm some jock sniffer....I write about them to show others that there ARE Asian American males who can excel at the highest levels of athletics. Ok, few and far between, but they are there. And THESE guys are the Alphas. Growing up, I can think of only one other AA athlete that was someone to feel pride in. Former Baltimore Oriole baseball player Lenn Sakata. He also won a World Series ring with the Orioles in 1983. He's worthy of having his own post.
I participated in sports as a kid and was coordinated and good but as I got older, I didn't grow like my white and black peers. And I didn't have any superior skill to compensate. Kinda sucks when you realize that you're not going to be anything more than 5'7"! But to see other AA males going a lot further in athletics and being VISIBLE to the general populace is something to take pride in. I believe it helps "normalize" perceptions about Asians in this country and helps to slowly break stereotypes that Asian males aren't athletic, are too weak and scrawny to compete in sports, etc...