Jayhawks Add Top Hawaiian Prospect to 2012 Signing Class
July 20, 2011
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
University of Kansas head coach Ritch Price announced Wednesday that Punahou High School outfielder Michael Suiter has accepted a scholarship offer and will play for the Jayhawks starting in the 2011-12 season. Suiter had originally committed to Santa Clara, but was let out of his scholarship offer when Broncos’ head coach Mark O’Brien resigned at the end of the 2011 season.
“We are thrilled that Michael Suiter is joining our baseball program,” Price said. “He is a talented player who will make an immediate impact on our club.”
Suiter, a 6-foot-1 center fielder from Punahou High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, was the 2010 Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Hawaii. As a junior, Suiter hit .533 and followed that up by hitting .447 with four doubles, two homers and 14 RBIs to earn second-team all-state honors this past season. He was listed by several scouting services as the top high school player in Hawaii prior to this season’s draft.
During his high school career, Suiter helped Punahou High School win its sixth and seventh-consecutive state championships in 2009 and 2010. He is playing in the Alaskan Baseball League this summer for the Mat-Su Miners.
Suiter was drafted in the 37th round of this year’s MLB First-Year Player Draft, but has said that he won’t sign a professional contract this year. Suiter was teammates in high school with current Kansas infielder Ka’iana Eldredge, who completed his freshman season with the Jayhawks last spring.
Suiter joins a strong 2012 signing class for KU, which now has five freshmen that were drafted by Major League organizations this year. He joins pitcher Cody Kukuk (Boston, seventh round), outfielder Connor McKay (Colorado, 24th round), pitcher Robert Kahana (Colorado, 44th round) and pitcher Wes Benjamin (New York Yankees, 48th round).
