MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 8, 2025

Kurt Suzuki

Los Angeles Angels

Press Conference

Q. Terry was saying today you completed your coaching staff. What would you say about your staff?

KURT SUZUKI: I'm very excited. We definitely -- it took a while. Obviously tried to check every box. Personalities, relationships with players, relating to players on their level was something important, and also just for me, obviously, being a first-time manager, surrounding myself with good baseball people that are loyal, that are hardworking, that are committed to getting the players better, that was really important to me. And with the staff that we've hired, we feel like we've checked every box. And I couldn't be more excited going into my first season.

Q. How about with Brady Anderson, in particular, he obviously had a good career and has worked with some guys individually but hasn't really been a hitting coach. What convinced you that he's ready for this?

KURT SUZUKI: I actually talked to Brady a lot. We talked. I know our front office talked to Brady a lot. We discussed some things, and we were very excited with what he had to say. Just being around him a little bit now, his personality, we feel like how his ability to relate to players on that level, I know he did some stuff with the Orioles that he talked about.

So moving forward, I feel like he's definitely going to be good. Like I told him, I said, hey, the reason I hired you is I think you're going to be the best. I truly believe that just after talking to him. I talked to him -- I feel like I'm the guy I talked to pretty much every day. He's easy to talk to and we have a good time.

Q. On the pitching side, (indiscernible) Mike Maddux, how about guys like that?

KURT SUZUKI: It's going to be huge, obviously with my background being a catcher, that was one of the most important ones for me and having the experience that Mike has next to me, whether it's helping me run the bullpen, dealing with helping with these young players, these young pitchers that we feel very excited about having, having Mike give his expertise to these guys. We feel like they're going to improve every single day, and that's important for us.

Q. What have you thought of the moves so far, I guess the two big ones, Rodriguez and Manoah?

KURT SUZUKI: Very excited talked to both of them. They're both ready. They're both excited for the opportunity. Obviously playing against Manoah, -- I haven't seen Rodriguez but playing against Manoah and watching him compete, his mentality out on the field is definitely what I like, especially if I was a catcher, I would love to have that on the mound. He's exciting. And Rodriguez, everybody knows the talent that he has. Obviously dealt with some injuries, but excited talked to him he's ready to go compete.

Q. Former teammate Anthony Rendon retiring, maybe not playing next year. Can you talk that and how's he doing?

KURT SUZUKI: I don't know, -- obviously I've seen the stories out there. Until the higher-ups tell me otherwise, I'm going to be expecting him at Spring Training until told otherwise.

Yes, I've talked to Anthony. Obviously we have a personal relationship being teammates in Washington, winning the World Series together. We have a relationship on a personal level, talk about family and all that type of stuff.

Q. How about Mike Trout, have you talked much with him and how he's doing health wise coming off the knee?

KURT SUZUKI: Mike is excited, said he's ready to go. Obviously a healthy Mike Trout is good for us. He sounds excited. I know he's enjoying time with the family and stuff, but definitely I've spoken to Mike.

Q. We didn't ask about Max Stassi. Obviously you know him very well. And what can he bring to helping Logan out?

KURT SUZUKI: I think me being around Stass for the two years that I played here was definitely very helpful into having him come here with us. His knowledge that he has, and it's more of his, I call it an obsession he has with receiving, with catching, all the drills that he does.

I mean, this guy never stops trying to learn, and I think having a young catcher in Logan is definitely going to help having Stassi around. I think that's one of our biggest focuses.

Obviously both being catchers, his role. I'm excited to see what Stassi can do with Logan. And I've been talking to him this offseason, and he's got all these plans and ideas that he wants to do with Logan. And I couldn't be more excited. He's ready.

Q. Where does Logan need to improve? And what are some of the things that you want to work on with Logan?

KURT SUZUKI: Logan is a special player. Obviously he's a young player. He's still learning just like all of us when we were younger. You never stop learning. I'm excited for Logan to keep trying to get better. The guy is one of the hardest workers that I've ever been around. He wants to be better. He's determined to be better. And, like I said, bringing Stassi aboard and watching what he can do with Logan, I'm excited where Logan can go this year.

Q. You obviously have, as you mentioned, a unique relationship with Rendon (indiscernible) friendship. How difficult is it to navigate when you're in a position like you are? And how does it influence the conversations you have with him now? Do you think you have a better sense of the person maybe than other people that have worked with him in recent years?

KURT SUZUKI: Yeah, I think just talking with Anthony on a personal level, obviously my relationship with him on that level is special, just because we were together for -- I saw his first game in the big leagues. He saw my last game as a player in the big leagues. It's a special relationship.

When we talk, it's more about family, how are his kids doing. He actually came, he came to Texas and watched my kids play baseball, came one year and watched my kids play.

We have that personal relationship. He understands business is business. Baseball is baseball, but at the end of the day our relationship is special, and I'm definitely keeping in touch with him personally.

Q. How do you feel about your bullpen and how important the health of guys like Joyce and Stephenson?

KURT SUZUKI: Obviously health is key for any position, right? Definitely we're looking at some options going forward. And we definitely like some guys we have right now going forward. And we're excited with what we have right now. But we're always looking for ways to get better.

I know Perry is always looking for ways to get better. Until the roster is set, I know Perry is going to keep trying to look for ways to improve our ballclub. And that's what I respect about Perry, and I love it. He's always looking for ways to get better.

Q. How confident are you that there can be some significant additions to this (indiscernible)?

KURT SUZUKI: I think you're always confident, right, until you're not. I think you're always confident. And like I said, talking to Perry, I get the luxury of talking to him every day now pretty much in the offseason. He's always bouncing ideas off of me, talking to Pratt and those guys, David Haynes. They're always looking for ways to improve the ball club, whether it's pitching, offense, defense, we're always looking to improve. And it's been exciting, the talks we've had so far. We'll see where it goes.

Q. When it comes to Spring Training who is going to plan out the whole thing? Is it going to be your bench coach (indiscernible), or who will plan out all the different drills and workouts and (indiscernible)?

KURT SUZUKI: I think everybody will have their input. Obviously we have catching guys, infield guys, outfield guys. Once we get a little closer, we'll bring everybody together to create a plan, how we want to attack Spring Training, who is going to be running Spring Training, who is going to be coordinating Spring Training.

But right now, I think we've had some ideas. We've been bouncing some ideas off. And I have some thoughts of what I want to do, but I also -- it's important to get the other coaches' feedback also and their thoughts about what they want to do, what they think we need to do to help us prepare for the season.

Q. What's it been, I guess, six weeks now since you got this job, I'm sure lots of people have come at you with tips and questions and things like that. Has there been any conversations you've had since then that have really, like, connected with something that you --

KURT SUZUKI: No, I think the past relationships that I've had with a lot of players that -- I was talking to Salmon here a little while ago, we played together in Washington, and we were just talking about how cool it is to play, Stam, Vogty, guys like that who were my teammates and are now managers, we thought it was pretty cool. I got to play with Kotsay, the manager with the A's, and I have a special relationship with him.

So getting tips, I'm always open to trying to get better. It's a fraternity of managers and fraternity, you have relationships with these guys from playing days, from guys who have coached you before. And definitely always open to having conversations to try to get better.

Q. Going back to Mike Trout, did you have a chance to talk to him about the possibility of him playing in the WBC?

KURT SUZUKI: I haven't talked to -- haven't had conversations yet of who is playing or who is not playing in the WBC. I'm sure those conversations are going to come up. And when they come up, we'll talk about it. But I haven't heard anything as of right now.

Q. Do you support the idea of him playing in the WBC?

KURT SUZUKI: I think it's definitely a discussion. We definitely have to talk about it as a staff to feel what's the best plan moving forward for the player and for the team.

Q. How do you feel about your center field situation? I know last year you had Teodosio play there, with Mike moving off the position to right field. How do you feel you have depth right there?

KURT SUZUKI: We definitely have some options, but we definitely are looking at other options also. Like I said, every position we're keeping our options open, seeing how we can improve the team, where can we improve the team. Obviously Teo, his defense is incredible. He showed that last year that his defense is awesome. But at the same time we know there's options out there that we have to look at to see how we can improve.

Q. How do you see Trout and Soler splitting time as far as how much one plays DH and one is an outfielder?

KURT SUZUKI: Like I said, our options are still open. We don't know really until the roster is set on who is going to play outfield, who is going to DH as much. I think once we get to Spring Training and we get a gauge on what our roster looks like, then I think those discussions are definitely going to be had.

But for right now, we try to keep our options open to see -- we might add somebody, we might not. And like I said, once we get to Spring Training, we'll have a better sense of what our roster looks like. And then we can kind of decide on playing time and stuff like that.

Q. Would you like Adell to stick him in one spot?

KURT SUZUKI: I think the luxury of having players that can move around is definitely good. Now, is there a spot where Jo's better? Maybe, if he sticks in one spot.

But like I said, having options like that and having guys play different positions keeps our options open to make us a better team. I think at the end of the day, we've got to put the best team out there that's going to help us be successful.

Q. Contact was obviously a problem for the team, struck out a lot. How much was Brady Anderson's plan or talks to the hitting coaches about maybe trying to get a little more contact?

KURT SUZUKI: Yeah, there's definitely plans. Obviously, there's areas that we can definitely get area on, whether it's contact and situational hitting you want to say, so to say. And there's definitely ideas that Brady has, whether it's drills, whether it's mindset, whether it's stuff like that.

So we've had conversations about how we can improve overall as an offense. We hit some homers last year, definitely hit some homers. But I guess for ways to improve, our overall offensive approach, there's definitely talks about what we can do to improve that.

Q. In Japan you have roots. Your former teammate Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, are known as Troutani. How do you describe their relationship?

KURT SUZUKI: For me, when I played with both of them, I thought it was great. At the time, two of the best players in the world playing on the same team. And I got a chance to play with them. It was a pretty unique experience and definitely special to be a part of and seeing it on a daily basis.

Their relationship was fun. Shohei is funny. Trout has a good time. They banter back and forth. And I feel like they push each other to get better. I thought that was a real cool experience to witness firsthand.

Q. The last WBC they faced each other. So how did you see them at the moment?

KURT SUZUKI: I saw Ohtani strike Trout out. I think everybody saw that, right? I don't think that there's somebody that Ohtani wouldn't strike out. It was a great at-bat. I thought it was a cool thing. I think there might have been some bragging rights after that one.

But it was great for baseball. Two of the best players in the world facing each other in the championship game in the WBC, didn't get much better than that.

Q. On that note, we're looking forward to hopefully Japan and Team U.S. compete at WBC. How do you see the two of the teams matching up?

KURT SUZUKI: They're going to be both great teams. Obviously we know Japan's history, their success, the players that they bring over whenever they come here against the United States.

And other teams, too, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, it's great baseball. There's great baseball all over the world coming in to play in the tournament. I think it's great for the sport and it's definitely for viewers it's fun to watch.