On Wednesday, 2001 Baldwin alumnus Kurt Suzuki was formally introduced as the new manager of the Los Angeles Angels, becoming the first full-time Major League Baseball manager born in Hawai‘i.
Suzuki, who was born and raised in Wailuku, starred collegiately at Cal State Fullerton before getting selected in the second round of the 2004 MLB Draft by the Oakland Athletics. He made his MLB debut with the A's in 2007 and went on to play 16 seasons in the majors with five different franchises, earning All-Star honors with the Minnesota Twins in 2014 and a World Series ring with the Washington Nationals in 2019.
Prior to retiring as a player in 2022, Suzuki most recently played for the Angels. He has struck around with the organization in his post-playing career and was named a special assistant to general manager Perry Minasian prior to the 2023 season.
"I don't know if I've ever been this excited to give someone an opportunity like this," Minasian said of hiring Suzuki for the role on Wednesday. "The individual on my right is one of the best human beings you will ever meet in baseball and outside of baseball. To me, that is something really, really important in a leadership role. This is an exciting day. It really is."
The Angels have not played in the postseason since 2014 and have not had a winning season since 2015. Tasked with the role of changing the team's fortunes in 2026, Suzuki said he's embracing the opportunity despite having never managed at the big league level before.
"This does mean a lot to me, and I'm excited for this opportunity," Suzuki said. "I'm excited to work for this fanbase, for this ownership, for this front office and especially for the players. I've been in that building, I've been in those shoes before. It's a grind, and I feel like I can relate to these guys on every single level. I've been on teams with high expectations that haven't won. I've been on teams that have had low expectations and won. I feel like I can relate to both parties and I think that's one of my strengths but I'm super excited like I said for this opportunity. I'm ready to get going, to get to work, and like Perry said, there's goals here. There's standards here that we're gonna set and I'm looking forward to it."
Suzuki, 42, is receiving just a one-year contract. Despite the short window to prove himself, he believes he can lean on his staying power as a player to relate to the current team, which went 72-90 in 2025.
"I think the last six years of my career were on one-year deals, right? And I just kept going," Suzuki said with a laugh. "I want to be here. I want to do this job. I feel like throughout my career, I've had to prove myself every single year. It doesn't scare me. It only fuels me to be better. I'm always looking for ways to be better as a coach, as a person, as a mentor, whatever you want to call it. One-year deal doesn't scare me. It is what it is. I'm gonna do my job to the best of my ability and go from there."
While Suzuki will officially become the first full-time MLB manager born in Hawai‘i when the Angels open their 2026 regular season against the Houston Astros on March 26, Waiākea alumnus Kai Correa was the first from the Islands to manage a game, doing so on an interim basis for the San Francisco Giants to end the 2023 season. Correa, who went 1-2 as a manager, was named the bench coach for the New York Mets on Oct. 15.
Although Suzuki's MLB career has taken him away from the Islands, he still takes tremendous pride in his roots.
"It makes me feel proud. Obviously my roots in Hawai‘i is something special to myself and I've made that known," Suzuki said. "I'm proud to be from Hawai‘i and I'm proud to be from the small island of Maui and to be sitting here talking today as the manager for the Angels, it's special. I hope I can be a good role model for these kids growing up. I hope I can give these kids dreams and goals to strive for as they get older in whatever they embark on in their lives. It's just to help people, help kids in general. Just give these kids hope and dreams and goals.
"That's a big thing for myself, especially coming from Maui, understanding the challenges that there are from a small island out in the middle of the Pacific. Me sitting here today, if I can impact one kid, I've done my job. That's what the hope is for and I'm excited to do this."
Minasian, who enters the 2026 season on the final year of his contract with the Angels, is in lockstep with Suzuki in that regard.
"There's nobody else I'd rather have sitting here right now," he said of Suzuki. "Somebody equated the baseball season to going into a submarine. You're with each other for a long time. Once the hatch closes, there's no getting out of the submarine. You better like who's in it. Again, there's nobody I'd rather be in the submarine with."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
