Get To Know: 1B Tyler Kuresa

The decision to tell the Minnesota Twins five years ago that he was not going to accept their offer and instead go to college was a difficult one. However, he was and remains fully confident that it was the right decision for him. He said, “I was so young at the time. I was 17. I didn’t really know what I wanted.”

He did know one thing he wanted, and that was an education. It was important to him and to his family. Kuresa explained, “At the end of the day, I just decided that getting an education was the best route for me. Especially given my family situation. I’m a first-generation America. My dad came from Samoa. He came from Samoa to get an education here,” he continued, “My mom and dad moved here so we could all get an education so that definitely factored in.”

Kuresa went to the University of Oregon where he played as a freshman in 2011. He made the decision to transfer to UC-Santa Barbara where he had to sit out the 2012 season.

In 2013, he hit .296/.359/.455 (.814) with 16 doubles, three triples and five home runs. The Atlanta Braves used their 14^th round pick on him, but he returned to Santa Barbara for another season. In 2014, he hit .287/.372/.495 (.867) with 13 doubles, a triple and nine home runs.

“Transferring to UC-Santa Barbara was a major transition, positively in my life, for my career and for my personal life. We made a regional my junior year. It was the first time that Santa Barbara had been to a regional in twelve years. Now they’re on the right track. I think they’re #10 in the country right now. Just taking that program and seeing what Andrew Checketts was able to do with that program in such a short time. I was happy to be a part of it.”

However, he also was able to follow through on his education and graduate. “I went into college wanting to study Communications, but the Communications program at Santa Barbara was so time consuming that I really couldn’t do it with baseball. So, I switched majors to Public Policy Analysis which I really ended up liking a lot because my dad was really into politics and so am I, so it’s definitely an interesting major. I don’t know if it’ll ever translate to a profession, but a degree from Santana Barbara definitely looks nice.”

After being drafted and signed by the Twins, Kuresa spent last summer mashing for the Elizabethton Twins. He hit .298/.381/.478 (.859) with 14 doubles, five home runs and 44 RBI in 46 games.

He played well, but the transition to pro baseball did take a little getting used to. “Just playing every day. College is definitely a grind because you play four days a week, but then you have to come back and practice the other days, which is really hard. Here you’re playing every day. Every day matters. You really have to keep the focus every day. You can’t slack off here. You’ll get exposed out there. You owe it to the fans every single night to do your best.”

So far this season at Cedar Rapids, he is hitting .286/.295/.429 (.724) with three doubles and a home run. He is a very hard worker. When I was in Cedar Rapids a couple of weeks ago, I watched the Kernels take batting practice each day. Following batting practice, I went under the stadium and talked with several players and the coaching staff. I saw Kuresa walk out of the locker room and to the batting cage that is under the stadium. He hit an entire bucket of balls off of the tee, likely 100 extra swings before the game.

In his first at-bat in the game, he crushed a pitch well over the wall in right field. Asked what he was looking for on the pitch, he gave a tremendous answer showing what goes through the mind of a good hitter during an at-bat. “He had thrown me an 0-0 changeup. They had thrown me consecutive changeups the night before so it was kind of in the back of my mind that another change up might be coming. That’s what it was and I was able to get the barrel on it.”

Why the extra tee work? “It’s still so early in the season that you’re just trying to get your legs under you in the box, trying to see the ball. I just wasn’t seeing it very well the day before. So sometimes when you get on the tee and you polish off some of the mechanical issues that you may be having, it helps you see the ball a little bit better.”

What about seeing the extra work pay off in the game? Kuresa’s response was tremendous, “Yeah, definitely (it feels good). But putting the extra work in, it’s all a process. Sometimes it’s not going to show up on the field. Sometimes you’re going to have a really great BP and put in a lot of extra work and you’re not going to play well on the field. Sometimes you’ll play well in the field and not do well in batting practice, so it’s just how it goes sometimes.”

That response is a good illustration of why it is so important to look beyond the statistics at these lower levels, especially early in the season when they’re adjusting to a new level, playing in cold weather conditions and adjusting to being a professional.

His hitting coach, Tommy Watkins, continues to work with Kuresa. Of the burly first baseman, he said, “To start, he’s a good kid and works really hard. With him, we’re just trying to work to stay down on his swing. He likes to come up too soon. He lets the ball get too deep sometimes. So, we’re trying to get the ball out front a little bit, the head out.”

Watkins had a long professional career that culminated with his one promotion to the big leagues late in the 2007 season. Kuresa’s Elizabethton coaches, manager Ray Smith and hitting coach Jeff Reed, both spent time in the big leagues.

Kuresa said, “They’ve been there. It’s definitely really nice to work with people every day who have been where you want to go and know what it takes to get there. They’ve been where you are, and they’ve been through the grind, and they know exactly where you’re going to which is really nice, really comforting to know.”

Kuresa, with his size and strength plays first base, but he doesn’t want to just get by on defense. He takes a lot of pride in his glove work. “I’ve always taken a lot of pride in playing first base well. I don’t consider myself just a big guy that they throw over there. I take a lot of pride in it. I try to help my team win on the defensive side of the ball, and then anything I can do to contribute on the offensive side of the ball is a bonus.”

So, as Tyler Kuresa enters his first full season as a professional baseball player, what kind of goals does he have? “I’m not much of a numbers guy. I just like to, every night I have a set number of quality at bats that I’d like to have. I usually like to have two or three quality at-bats a night.”

He continued, as you would expect, talking about team goals. “I really just want to win a championship. That’s all I want to do. Some guys say that and they don’t really mean it, but this is a special team. We’re going to lose guys throughout the season and get guys in. I’d really like to be the last team standing at the end.”

Oh, and he made one guarantee too. “And, I can promise you that I’ll have at least one home run at the end of the year.”

Tyler Kuresa is a bright, young ball player who is enjoying his time with the Cedar Rapids Kernels. He is playing first base against right-handers at this point. He is grateful for this opportunity to play in the Twins organization.

“I’m definitely glad that the Twins picked me up again. I get a second chance with them.”