T-Bones re-sign outfielder Kuzdale

Tbonesbaseball.com

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – The Kansas City T-Bones have announced the re-signing of outfielder Robby Kuzdale.

Kuzdale, 27 (11-07-87), who is 5-foot-9 and 179 pounds, was in centerfield for 96 of Kansas City’s 100 games in 2014. He hit a career-high seven home runs and finished the season with the T-Bones’ third-highest batting average at .275 (also a career high).

His season-ending average was .095 points higher than where he sat on June 22, when he was batting .180. Largely because of that jump at the plate, Kuzdale (pronounced Kooz-dale) was selected as the club’s Most Improved Player for 2014. Kuzdale’s surge included a 14-game hitting streak from July 10-26.

Kuzdale, who’s originally from Tampa, Fla., spent the first three seasons of his professional career in the Frontier League, including two years in Lake Erie for current T-Bones manager John Massarelli. In four professional seasons, Kuzdale is a career .252 hitter with 185 hits, including 39 doubles and 11 triples, and he’s scored 106 runs.

“Kooz established himself early on as one of the best defensive center fielders in the league,” Massarelli said of Kuzdale’s first season in Kansas City. “And then, after early adjustments at the plate, he became a solid offensive contributor.”

The T-Bones open the 2015 regular season at home on May 22 against Lincoln.