American Baseball Player Kyle Lohse

Kyle Lohse is a former American professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, and Texas Rangers.

Kyle Lohse was born on October 4th, 1978 in Ord Bend, California and attended Hamilton Union High School. Kyle Lohse’s mother has Native American and Filipino ancestry and his father has German ancestry. Lohse’s parents were both star athletes and he wanted to follow in their footsteps. Lohse’s Native American ancestry is a part of the Nomlaki Tribe of California. Lohse did not consider himself anything other than “American” because the Nomlaki tribe did not re-establish itself until 1996.

The Nomlaki (also Noamlakee, Central Wintu, Nomelaki) are a Wintun people native to the area of the Sacramento Valley extending westward to the Coast Range in Northern California. The Nomlaki tribe is located in North Central California, in the Sacramento river valley. Today some Nomlaki people are enrolled in the federally recognized tribes: Round Valley Indian Tribes, Grindstone Indian Rancheria or the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians. The Nomlaki were bordered by the Wintu (Wintun) in the north, the Yana in the northeast and east, the Konkow (Maiduan) in the east, the Patwin (Wintun) in the south, and the Yuki in the west. Their neighbors on the west are the Yuki who are usually their enemies but they still often traded with them. Their neighbors on the east are the Yana and Konkow. The 25-200 people that lived in each Nomlaki village were all related to each other. A headman was chosen by the men of the village to lead the people in food gatherings and ceremonies. Deerskin was often used for clothing in the Nomlaki tribe. Their houses were made of bent saplings which were tied together at the top and covered with thatch made of grass. Hunting was the job of the men and the boys were taught to hunt at a very young age. Hunting was typically done with a bow and arrows. A knobbed throwing stick made of mahogany was also used for hunting. Trade was common between villages and families as well as neighboring tribes and some even considered trading to be their special skill.

Kyle Lohse attended Butte College in California and was drafted into the Major Leagues. Kyle Lohse’s pitching style consists of four pitches. Lohse throws a two-seam fastball, a slider, a changeup, and a curveball. At the beginning of his major league baseball career, Lohse mostly threw a four-seam fastball. But after signing with the St. Louis Cardinals, Lohse started pitching the two-seam fastball which was essential to the development of his pitching career. He is known as a pitcher who takes command and can induce a lot of ground balls. He isn’t known to walk many hitters but he also is not known as a strikeout pitcher. Although, in 2012 he set a new career high of strikeouts with 143 in 211 innings. Kyle Lohse’s baseball career has included periods on various MLB teams.

In 1996, Kyle Lohse was selected as the 29th round of the Major League Baseball draft. However, Lohse was traded with Jason Ryan to the Minnesota Twins for Ryan Aguilera and Scott Downs. On June 22, 2001, Lohse made his MLB debut with the Minnesota Twins. In Lohse’s first year as a starter in 2002, he had a record of 13-8 and a 4.23 ERA. Unfortunately, he was sent down to AAA Rochester on May 17, 2006 as the Twins called up a replacement pitcher named Boof Bonser. However when Matt Guerrier broke his thumb on June 9th, Lohse was recalled. In July of 2006, Lohse was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for pitcher Zach Ward and made his first start for the Reds on August 17th. Lohse was traded to the Philadelphia, Phillies on July 30th, 2007, but after his departure from the Reds, his performance began to decline slightly. In 2008, Lohse was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals and in 2011 they won the World Series. During that season, he won his 100th game as a pitcher and lead the Cardinals with 14 wins and a 3.39 ERA. In March 2013, it was confirmed that Kyle Lohse signed a three-year, $33 million contract with the Milwaukee Brewers.

In 2016, he signed a $2 million contract with the Texas Rangers but was designated for assignment after a couple of unsuccessful games. Lohse refused his outright assignment and became a free agent on July 31, 2016.