Angels Hire Kurt Suzuki as Manager

The Los Angeles Angels have hired 42-year-old Kurt Suzuki as their new manager. Suzuki, a Wailuku, Hawai‘i native and Baldwin High graduate, spent 16 MLB seasons as a catcher with Oakland, Minnesota, Atlanta, Washington and the Angels, won a World Series with the 2019 Nationals, retired after 2022 and has served as a special assistant to GM Perry Minasian since 2023. The club moved on from talks with Albert Pujols and considered candidates including Torii Hunter before selecting Suzuki, a pick that signals alignment with Minasian’s front office. Suzuki has no prior big-league managerial experience but is widely respected and becomes the first MLB manager from Hawai‘i. He inherits a team that went 72–90 this season, has missed the playoffs for 11 straight seasons (the longest active drought), and has endured franchise instability including seven managers in nine years and the recent non-return of Ron Washington after heart surgery. The hiring is being framed as a notable start to a long rebuilding process for a club that has underperformed despite stars Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.