Kirk Robert
Nieuwenhuis was born on August
7th, 1987 in Santa Monica California. The six foot three
outfielder played three seasons at Azusa University where he set school records
in runs scored (190) & triples (12). He led his Cougars team to back to
back NAIA World Series titles there as well. He was drafted out of Azusa by the
New York Mets in the third round of the 2008 draft.
He began his career
with the A ball Brooklyn Cyclones where hit three HRs & drove in 29
runs while batting .277 in 74 games.
In 2009 he was at A ball St. Lucie hitting .274 before getting pushed up to AA Binghamton. In 2010 he only hit .225 but hit 16 HRs & drove in 60 Runs at Binghamton, getting promoted to AAA Buffalo late in the year.
In 2011 he hit .298 at
Buffalo with an excellent .403 on base % along with 6 HRs 14 RBIs & 17
doubles but was shut down in the second half of the year with a torn labrum.
In 2012 he got called
up to the Mets squad after just one game to replace the injured Andres Torres.
He made his MLB debut in the second game of the season getting two hits in the
Mets 4-2 win over the Atlanta Braves.
On April 9th he hit a
two run HR off Washington's Edwin Jackson in a game the Mets would win on a
Daniel Murphy walk off RBI single. He went on a seven game hit streak &
ended April batting .325 with seven multi hit games.

Things went great for Nieuwenhuis as a new member of a surprising 2012 Mets team that was playing well. The long haired California surfer looking kid, became a quick fan favorite & earned the nick name Captain Kirk.
Throughout May he kept
his average up at .294 & played a fine defensive outfield as well. On
June 3rd he had three hits, including a two run HR against the St. Louis
Cardinals in the Mets 6-1 victory & four game series sweep at Citi
Field.

But in the month he
went just 4-39, with two RBIs & his average fell to .252. He was
striking out often enough to put him in the NL's top ten as well (98 Ks in 282
at bats). By August 1st he was back down at AAA Las Vegas for the rest of the
year. With the Mets he had played a good outfield making four assists posting a
.982 fielding %.

He returned to the Mets on June 9th. On June 16th, he was the hero of the game when he hit a walk off three run HR at Citi Field, off the Chicago Cubs Calos Marmol.

On July 5th at Miller Park in Milwaukee, he had one of his most productive days in the big leagues, gathering four hits & five RBIs, helping Jeremy Hefner to a 12-5 win. In the 1st inning he walked with the bases loaded, then in the 3rd singled with the bases loaded to score two more runs. In the 4th he had another RBI single, topped off with a 9th inning Triple scoring David Wright.
On July 27th, he was sent back down to AAA Las Vegas as Jenry Mejia was added to the 25 man roster. Kirk hit hit .248 with 14 HRs & 37 RBIs in 74 games there.
In 2014
the Mets had an over supply of outfielders from off season transactions
& Nieuwenhuis was the odd man out, starting out in Las Vegas.He got
called up when Chris Young went down with injury, and in his return hit a three
run HR in his first at bat.
He had a three hit day in a 9-0 win over the Arizona D-backs. His numbers fell off & he was sent back down at the end of April batting .222.
He had a three hit day in a 9-0 win over the Arizona D-backs. His numbers fell off & he was sent back down at the end of April batting .222.

He
returned on August 5th & hit safely in three of his first four games
upon return. In the first game he drove in a run in the Mets 6-2 win over the
Nats. In September he helped the Mets to a 4-3 win over the Marlins in Miami.
He finished the year at .259 with 3 HRs 14 doubles & 16 RBIs.
In 2015 he
struggled mightily batting just .079 through the end of May. His contract was
purchased by the Los Angeles Angels where in ten games he hit .136 (2-24)
& was placed on waivers. He was picked up again by the New York Mets
& sent to AAA Las Vegas. There he hit ten HRs from June 16th to the end
of the month in eleven games.
He was
brought back up on July 6th & hit an RBI double in a 3-0 Jonathan
Niese shut out at San Francisco over the Giants. On July 11th he made Mets
history at Citi Field as he became the first Met to ever hit three HRs in a
home game.
In 53
seasons Nieuwenhuis became the tenth Met to hit three HRs in a game, but
never before had any one done it at home. The Mets won the game 5-3 in their
final game before the All Star break. They finished the first half of the
season in second place just two games out.
Quotes: "It's been a wild ride, for sure today was
a lot of fun."
On July
22nd he drove in two runs in Mets 4-3 loss to the Washington Nationals. On July
25th he had another one of his biggest games. He had four hits, three singles
& a double, while driving in four runs in the Mets 15-2 romp over the
Los Angeles Dodgers.Kirk had one more heroic game in him coming on September
8th at Washington D.C.
With the
score tied at seven, he came in to pinch hit in the bottom of the 8th inning
against Nats closer Jonathan Papelbon. Nieuwenhuis connected for his fourth
& final HR of the year, the run proved to be the game winner as the Mets
went on to the 8-7 win pulling six games ahead of Washington in the standings.
He closed out the year batting just .195, with the Mets he hit .208
with 4 HRs 9 doubles & 13 RBIs in 64 games.
In the World Series he got pinch hit at bats in Games #1 & #3
going hitless. He finished off Game #4 playing in centerfield coming in as a
9th inning defensive replacement.
In December he was placed on waivers & was picked up by the Milwaukee Brewers where he was the Brew Crews main centerfielder in 2016. He went 0-10 against the Mets at Citi Field in a May series. In 125 games he batted just .209 & struck out 133 times, but did hit 13 HRs with 18 doubles & 44 RBIs.
In 2017 he had a horrendous April batting just .088 & was sent down to AAA Colorado Springs where he was batting .217 through July.
In a six year MLB career, the outfielder has played 413 games with a.20 batting average, hitting 31 HRs with 215 hits 59 doubles 20 stolen bases & 117 RBIs.
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