Kurt Ainsworth | |||
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Pitcher | |||
Born: Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
September 9, 1978 |||
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MLB debut | |||
September 5, 2001, for the San Francisco Giants | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
May 14, 2004, for the Baltimore Orioles | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Win–loss record | 6–8 | ||
Earned run average | 5.19 | ||
Strikeouts | 90 | ||
Teams | |||
Olympic medal record | ||
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Men’s baseball | ||
Representing the United States | ||
2000 Sydney | Team competition |
Kurt Harold Ainsworth (born September 9, 1978) is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for the San Francisco Giants and Baltimore Orioles and went to Louisiana State University. Ainsworth also won an Olympic Games gold medal with the United States' baseball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Following his professional baseball career, Ainsworth co-founded Marucci Sports and currently serves as the company's CEO.
Kurt Ainsworth attended Catholic High in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As a senior, he was a first team All-State selection, won the Student-Athlete Award, and was named Catholic High Man of the Year. After his senior baseball season, he played in the Louisiana All-Star game.
After playing collegiately for Louisiana State University, Ainsworth was the first-round draft pick (24th overall) of the San Francisco Giants in the 1999 MLB amateur draft. He signed with the Giants and finished the 1999 season with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes of the Class A Northwest League, where he started 10 games and accumulated a record of 3-3 and an ERA of 1.61.
He spent the 2000 season with the Shreveport Captains of the Texas League. At the age of 21, he was the same age as many of the players in rookie leagues, but he went 10-9 with an ERA of 3.30 and 130 strikeouts in 158 innings in the Class AA Texas League. This earned him a promotion to the Class AAA Fresno Grizzlies of the Pacific Coast League in 2001. Although he again went 10-9 at Fresno, his ERA in 27 games was 5.07; nevertheless, he was still called up to the Major Leagues and made two relief appearances for the Giants in 2001.