The Suzuki family recently held a vote: Should Kurt Suzuki, a Wailuku native and 2001 Baldwin High School graduate, take the uber-demanding, massive time-consuming, under-the-spotlight job of managing Major League Baseball\u2019s Los Angeles Angels?<\/p>\n
![\"At](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/94BE16B1-DB69-4B92-863F-6E55833C3D69.jpg\")
At Kurt Suzuki\u2019s final game of his 16-year Major League Baseball career on Oct. 4, 2022 \u2014 his 39th birthday \u2014 friends and family posed for this photo. Kurt Suzuki is in the back center wearing his Los Angeles Angels hat. From left: Keisha Shishido, Jon Viela, Maile Viela, Renee Suzuki, Eli Suzuki (front), Malia Suzuki, Kai Suzuki, Wendy Shishido, Brianna Wainecki, Kimo Higa and Kahai Shishido. Photo courtesy of Kimo Higa<\/p>\n
Taking that position also would mean that Suzuki, a former Major League catcher, would have to step down as manager of two other jobs: managing 12-year-old Kainoah\u2019s and 9-year-old Elijah\u2019s SoCal Pono club baseball teams<\/a>.<\/p>\n But when the Suzuki boys were told that their father would have an office and locker in the Los Angeles clubhouse \u2014 and that they would get to hang out with some of their favorite Angels players during home stands \u2014 they both gladly voted \u201cyes.\u201d Wife Renee<\/a> and 15-year-old daughter Malia, a standout volleyball player<\/a>, made it unanimous.<\/p>\n HJI Weekly Newsletter<\/p>\n Get more stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the Hawai\u2018i Journalism Initiative’s weekly newsletter:<\/p>\n ADDING YOU TO THE LIST…<\/p>\n Kai was 9 years old and Eli just 6 when their father played his last Major League game with the Angels \u2014 on Oct. 4, 2022, his 39th birthday.<\/p>\n \u201cThey can\u00a0hang out in the clubhouse, so it\u2019s definitely fun,\u201d Kurt Suzuki<\/a> said during a recent phone interview with the Hawai\u02bbi Journalism Initiative. \u201cThey can be\u00a0around the boys<\/a>. They\u2019re a lot older now \u2026 they have the relationships with the players, the (Mike) Trouts<\/a> and the (Zach) Netos,\u00a0and the (Nolan) Shanuels and the (Logan) O\u2019Hoppes. So, that\u2019s something that they\u2019re excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n Suzuki was hired to run the Angels<\/a> with no professional or college managerial experience. But he is well known to the organization. Suzuki played his last two seasons with the Angels in 2021 and 2022, and for the past three years has been serving as a front-office consultant to general manager Perry Minasian.<\/p>\n Suzuki said he is \u201cstill blown away\u201d by the Angels\u2019 decision.<\/p>\n And he said he is humbled to be the first full-time Major League Baseball manager from the state of Hawai\u2018i as he prepared to go to MLB\u2019s Winter Meetings that began Dec. 7 in Orlando, Fla.<\/p>\n But those who know the 42-year-old Suzuki well said what he lacks in managerial experience he makes up for with his 16 years of running the show behind the plate in the Big Leagues. Catching is a position that requires deep knowledge of the game, its players, strategy and the ability to direct action on every pitch.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you think about the pitchers\u00a0that he\u2019s caught for, the hitters that he had to figure out how to get them\u00a0to swing and miss, how to get them out, that experience is huge,\u201d said Shane Dudoit, an associate scout for the Texas Rangers and current head coach at Kamehameha Schools Maui. <\/p>\n \u201cHe was somebody that studied the hitters,\u00a0studied the strengths of his pitchers and matched it up that way. \u2026 just\u00a0a cognitive thinking. He\u2019s got it in a big way. He always did have it.\u201d<\/p>\n Suzuki has been studying opponents since he walked onto the Bears\u2019 practice field on the upper campus in the spring of 1998 at age 14. Kahai Shishido was the Baldwin High School head baseball coach at the time. He still fondly refers to Suzuki as \u201cPup,\u201d Suzuki\u2019s nickname from those early days at Baldwin.<\/p>\n \u201cWatching him grow from the high school player to the person he is today is something that is so rewarding to see as a coach,\u201d Shishido said. \u201cIt\u2019s great that he made it to the major leagues and he\u2019s now a major league manager.\u00a0But to see him grow into the person that he is, the father that he is, the husband that he is, is probably the thing that is the most rewarding for me to see.\u201d<\/p>\n Shishido was one of the first people that Suzuki called to share the news that he had landed the Angels manager gig. Shishido, his wife Wendy Shishido and daughter Keisha Shishido were all special guests at Suzuki\u2019s final game in 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cI know he will be be prepared; he has always been a student of the game,\u201d Kahai Shishido said. \u201cHe\u2019s respected, not only by the Angels, but I think by Major League Baseball in general. He\u2019s confident in what he wants to do and I guarantee no manager is going to outwork him. \u2026 His communication skills are unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n Suzuki said he hopes to show the baseball world there are a \u201clot of talented baseball-minded guys from Hawai\u02bbi. If I can help put Hawai\u02bbi on the map in that\u00a0regard, that\u2019s something that I\u2019m proud to do and I\u2019m excited to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Suzuki will start his managerial career with just a one-year contract, which is rare in the major leagues. Suzuki said he is not concerned, especially since he is working under Minasian, with whom he has grown close as his consultant.<\/p>\n \u201cThey came with this and I said, \u2018Hey,\u00a0listen, it doesn\u2019t scare me.\u2019 I\u2019ve had to prove myself every single year\u00a0that I played,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Suzuki noted the last six years of his playing career were all played with one-year contracts. And he added that Minasian said it best during the press conference that introduced him: \u201cWe\u2019re basically all in one-year deals. If you don\u2019t perform,\u00a0then you\u2019re going to get fired.\u201d<\/p>\n Suzuki played with five major league teams, including the Washington Nationals three different times, and finished No. 32 on the all-time games caught list with 1,540<\/a>. He currently is No. 26 all-time in MLB innings caught<\/a> with 12,968 2\/3.<\/p>\n Among Hawai\u2018i-born major leaguers, Suzuki is the all-time leader in hits (1,420), games (1,633), plate appearances (6,160), at-bats (5,561), walks (387), doubles (295), home runs (143) and RBIs (729).<\/p>\n Suzuki won a World Series championship in 2019 with the Washington Nationals and was an American League All-Star in 2014 with the Minnesota Twins.<\/p>\n As his career was winding down as a catcher with a reputation for handling pitching staffs with remarkable expertise, Suzuki often said he did not think he would stay in the game as a manager.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was\u00a0something that happened organically,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cThe last three years after my playing career,\u00a0I was in the front office, special assistant to the GM. And that was more so to keep my foot in the\u00a0door, stay around the game. The first couple of years, I really\u00a0didn\u2019t have any aspirations of potentially managing.\u201d<\/p>\n That attitude changed in the last year as his children grew older and his love of the game lingered.<\/p>\n \u201cThis past year, being around the\u00a0team a little bit more, talking to Perry a little bit more, the front office guys more,\u00a0it kind of intrigued me a little bit, just kind of watching how the game has evolved,\u00a0watching how analytics came into a role,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cAnd I just felt after three years,\u00a0you kind of get an itch, not to play, but to be involved a little bit more in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Kula native Kanekoa Texeira<\/a>, 39, who has been a minor league manager in the Atlanta Braves organization for five years, the last two at the AAA level, one step below the major leagues, said he knows that things will not be easy for Suzuki as a major league manager, especially with no managerial experience.<\/p>\n But Texeira, who also was a minor league pitching coach for three seasons after his professional playing career as a right-handed relief pitcher ended in 2016, said he is confident his fellow Maui major leaguer can handle it.<\/p>\n \u201cManaging is a little bit\u00a0different than in game playing,\u201d said Texeira, who pitched for the Seattle Mariners and Kansas City Royals in 2010 and 2011. \u201cThat\u2019s what I realized personally, myself. That\u2019s why you got a lot of coaches on your side.<\/p>\n \u201cThey stockpiled him with some good coaches to help him out in his first year\u00a0and hopefully when the season starts going he gets into a little roll, a little groove,\u00a0and knowing Kurt, it will just come naturally where he\u2019s going to be successful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Texeira and Suzuki faced each other in the major leagues once, in 2010 when Texeira pitched for the Seattle Mariners and Suzuki was playing for the Oakland A\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI got to face Kurt in the big leagues and the first time I faced him,\u00a0I hit him,\u201d Texeira said Thursday. \u201cHit by pitch \u2026 it wasn\u2019t on purpose. After the game I texted him and said \u2018my bad.\u2019 He just said, \u2018Ah, it didn\u2019t hurt. You don\u2019t throw hard enough.\u2019 So, me and Kurt always had some fun with that.\u201d<\/p>\n Kimo Higa, an assistant on the Baldwin baseball staff, was a senior when Suzuki was a freshman for the Bears. Higa took Suzuki under his wing during the one year they spent together on the Baldwin baseball team and have remained extremely close friends.<\/p>\n \u201cAt a young age you could tell Kurt had a strong passion for baseball,\u201d Higa said. \u201cYou could tell Kurt was going to be a special baseball player when he entered high school. His discipline, dedication, high baseball IQ and competitive nature stood out as a freshman.\u201d<\/p>\n When Suzuki returns home to Maui he and Higa hang out just like old times.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always cool when he comes home,\u201d Higa said. \u201cIf you didn\u2019t know him, you wouldn\u2019t think he played in the major leagues for 16 years and is now a manager for the Los Angeles Angels. With all that he\u2019s accomplished, his down-to-earth personality is what\u2019s so cool about him. Whenever we get a chance to see each other, it\u2019s always fun talking story and just joking around. Just like it was back in the day.\u201d<\/p>\n Suzuki has gained a reputation for coming home and giving back to the community that raised him, putting on many free baseball clinics at Maehara Stadium in Wailuku through his Kurt Suzuki Family Foundation. In 2019, future Hall of Fame slugger Albert Pujols<\/a> participated in the clinic after being asked by Suzuki. The two had the same agent, but never played on the same team. Texeira has also helped out at Suzuki\u2019s clinics. <\/p>\n The Kurt Suzuki Family Foundation<\/a> has raised more than $500,000 to support nonprofits across Hawai\u2018i and California since 2012. In 2017, Kurt Suzuki reached out to Trucker Dukes, a 3-year-old Maui boy who died after a battle with cancer that inspired millions worldwide, via The Players Tribune<\/a>.<\/p>\n At one point in the article, Kurt Suzuki wrote, \u201cMaybe you wanted to pretend you were a hero. Well let me tell you, Trucker. You don\u2019t have to pretend. Because you\u00a0are\u00a0a hero.\u201d<\/p>\n The Suzukis have been front and center of several other charitable causes. Their Pono baseball teams are modeled after the All Pono Foundation run by Jon and Maile Viela on Maui since 2007 in memory of their 3-year-old son Jrew K\u016bpono, who died in 2004 in a tragic accident.<\/p>\n Jon Viela was an assistant coach for the Bears when Suzuki was there and the Vielas were also special guests at Suzuki\u2019s final game in 2022.<\/p>\n![\"Kurt](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_3808.jpg\")
Kurt Suzuki (center back row) stands with his family at one of his final games for the Los Angeles Angels as a player in 2022. From left, Malia Suzuki, Elijah Suzuki, Kainoah Suzuki and mom Renee Suzuki stand with Kurt in this 2022 photo. Photo courtesy of Kimo Higa<\/p>\n![\"Kurt](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail-3.jpg\")
Kurt Suzuki, a 2001 Baldwin High School graduate, was named manager of the Los Angeles Angels on Oct. 23. ANDREW JACOBY photo<\/p>\n![\"Kimo](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/9E7910C4-6A9C-4351-8665-4661894BA5C5-copy.jpg\")
Kimo Higa and Kurt Suzuki are shown in this photo following Suzuki\u2019s final game in Major League Baseball, on Oct. 4, 2022, for the Los Angeles Angels. Photo courtesy of Kimo Higa<\/p>\n![\"Kanekoa](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_1819-scaled.jpg\")
Kanekoa Texeira (left) works with young baseball players on Nov. 23 at Maehara Stadium. HJI \/ ROB COLLIAS photo<\/p>\n![\"Albert](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_3589-rotated.jpeg\")
Albert Pujols (right) joined Kurt Suzuki at the Kurt Suzuki All Pono Baseball Clinic at Maehara Stadium on Jan. 12, 2019. HJI \/ ROB COLLIAS photo<\/p>\n![\"Kurt](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/kurt-suzuki-clinic-3.jpg\")
Kurt Suzuki Youth Baseball Clinic. File photo 2014, courtesy Kurt Suzuki Family Foundation.<\/p>\n