PHILADELPHIA >> Kurt Suzuki says he’s not ready to be a full-time dad.

At least not yet.

Sixteen years into a major league career he never could’ve imagined in his wildest dreams as a kid, the man from Maui remains just as much in love with the game as ever. While he concedes the end is near and he’s beginning to think about life after baseball, he’s not ready to walk away.

Now in his second season with his fifth team — the Los Angeles Angels — the 38-year-old Suzuki continues to inspire teammates young and old who marvel at his work ethic and exuberance.

Even while the Angels have been on a horrific skid, dropping 12 in a row, including an excruciating 9-7 loss to the Phillies here Sunday on a three-run walk-off homer, Suzuki keeps telling them to keep their heads up. He’s confident it will soon turn around.

“It’s baseball,” Suzuki, who played high school ball against Shane Victorino, said at the start of the series, in which his two hits and RBI single went to waste in the series finale. You’re gonna go through ups and downs over 162 games.

“But you’ve got to stick together. The quicker you can come out of it the better. Everybody gonna hit a patch at some time. It can either make you or break you. But the chemistry we have on this team, how much we love being around each other, I think will help for the good.”

It’s the kind of gospel he’s been preaching almost from the time he arrived in Oakland in 2007, before moving on to Washington, back to Oakland, Minnesota, Atlanta, back to Washington and now the Angels. Along the way he’s touched the lives of so many teammates who’ve never forgotten his impact.

“He helped me a lot when I was a young pitcher,” said Phillies righthander Kyle Gibson, Suzuki’s batterymate for 61 games from 2014 to 2016 with the Twins. “He used to walk me through games and impart his wisdom on me as I was a young guy coming up.

“Whether it was preparing for a start or adjusting mid-start, he kind of showed me the ropes. He’s got a lot of wisdom from playing the game so long.”

Long enough that Angels starting catcher Max Stassi is now on his second tour of duty with his current backup. “Kurt was in his second year in the big leagues when I was just drafted by Oakland ,” said Stassi, who joined the Angels in 2019 after spending parts of seven seasons with Houston. “So it’s pretty crazy to see it come full circle.

“I remember how I looked up to him when I was a younger guy and followed his work ethic. But he’s (the) same guy every single day. An extremely positive person, a great teammate. Whether he’s going good or going bad. Whether the team’s going good or bad.

“And the way he takes care of himself speaks volumes.”

Trout admires Suzuki

Even Mike Trout, one of the game’s elite, knows Suzuki is a special breed.

“I try to pick his brain because he’s been through so many experiences and obviously winning the World Series,” Trout said during what was a frustrating homecoming weekend, having grown up in nearby Millville, N.J. “He can give you an idea of what it takes.

“Kurt’s been big for us this year with his attitude. He’s a real leader.”

Hearing such lofty sentiments Suzuki says speaks volumes. But not about him.

“I tell Mike, ‘You’re the best player in the world,’” said Suzuki, who’s content playing once a series, rather than splitting catching duties as in recent years. “That’s why he’s the best player in the world, because he’s still trying to get better.

“He’s so humble. He’s the type of kid you want your son to be like. Just a good person, which obviously speaks for what a great teammate and great leader he is. I played against him 10 years and now to share the field with Mike Trout is something to tell my kids about.”

Of course, Kurt Suzuki has plenty to tell his kids — daughter Malia (11) and sons Kai (8) and Eli (5) — about, especially the thrill of winning it all in 2019. So was it everything he thought it would be when the Nats outlasted the Astros in a seven-game World Series in which the home team didn’t win a single game?

“More,” he replied, smiling. “I was hurt the last couple of games, but I’m sitting there thinking how this is such a long season and thinking about how much of a grind it was.

“I’m thinking ‘I don’t even know if I can get back here, so we’d better win.’ The joy of winning and everything culminated into a World Series is definitely the ultimate feeling in the game of baseball.”

Suzuki says he briefly considered going out on top, but the lure of coming back and trying to do it again was too hard to resist. Of course then came COVID, turning the 2020 season into a 60-game aberration of a season played in empty stadiums. “It was pretty blah,” admitted Kurt. “You didn’t get that season after feeling of winning the World Series.

“But it is what it is. We got our rings and the trophy.”

That turned out to be Suzuki’s swan song in Washington, as he chose to sign with the Angels largely so he could finally play close to home. “We’ve lived in Redondo Beach ever since I got drafted,” said the 2004 Johnny Bench Award winner at Cal State Fullerton as the best catcher in college. “My wife Renee’s from Redondo, so the proximity is awesome.

“Not having to ship your car. Not having to pack up and move your whole life. Just not having to do that, plus my familiarity with Perry and Alex made kind of a no brainer.”

That would be Angels general manager Perry Minasian and assistant GM Alex Tamin, who Kurt first got to know during his two seasons in Atlanta. They’ve developed enough of a relationship that Suzuki concedes they’ve begun plotting what comes next.

“We’ve talked a little bit already about after baseball, said Suzuki, whose two hits Sunday lifted him to .226 with one home run and six RBIs in just 53 at-bats. “I’ll definitely stay in it, because I love the game, being around the game, and I love helping guys get better. “

Tracking local players

Just like he loves watching the current crop of ballplayers from Hawaii making their mark as he, Victorino, Sid Fernandez and others have through the years. “Kolten (Wong) has had an amazing career so far, said Suzuki, who was an Angels teammate with Wong’s younger brother, Kean, last year. “Isiah (Kiner-Falefa) has had a great start to his career.

“Watching these guys work and play and compete at the highest level is definitely awesome to see,” the former Baldwin star said. “These kids are so talented. They’ve got a good head on their shoulders. They work hard and they’re very humble. Kind of typical of a kid growing up in Hawaii, where you don’t have a lot of things.”

“It’s nice to see these kids shine at the highest level.”

While the halo has come off these Angels the past two weeks, his manager will tell you having Suzuki around often makes his day. “He’s really a joy, easy to be around,” said Joe Maddon, who’s been particularly impressed with the way his veteran catcher can nurse a struggling pitcher through a game. “And he’s tough.

“You don’t play as many years at that position without being tough.”

Take what happened last week, for instance, when Mike Lorenzen’s warmup pitch caught Suzuki completely by surprise. “It was a freak accident,” explained Suzuki, who had to leave the game after losing consciousness and get checked for a concussion. “It happened to me in high school once

“It wasn’t Mike’s fault. I turned my head and wasn’t expecting it and the ball hit me in the neck. The next thing I knew I was sitting in the tunnel and didn’t know how I got there.

“Now we can joke about it because I’m OK.”

Earlier this season, Suzuki played first base for a couple of innings. It was the first time in Suzuki’s career he’d played a different position.

Still, nothing beats catching. “The fun part is trying to help a guy when they don’t have their best stuff to see how many innings you can get them through,” said Suzuki, who ranks fourth in MLB seniority, after Albert Pujols, Adam Wainwright, Joey Votto and Yadier Molina. “That’s what excites me about catching.

“Anyone can call a game when the pitcher has his best stuff. But it’s way more fun when you can help guide a pitcher. It may be a little more stressful and exhausting, but that’s what our job is.”

Except when the guy on the mound is Shohei Ohtani.

“He’s awesome,” gushed Suzuki of the reigning American League MVP. “He’s got probably the best stuff in the league and he’s fun to catch.

“His stuff is so good I feel like he can do whatever he wants. It’s a joy to watch him on the mound and hit. This guy is doing things you’ll never see for a long, long time.”

On a different level, what Kurt Suzuki has been doing catching in the majors for 16 years won’t be easily duplicated either.

So how much longer before he says aloha to the game he loves?

“At this point I take it year by year,” he replied simply, knowing the 2022 grind is only a quarter of the way through. “Then be a full-time dad.”

A word of caution about that, Malia, Kai and Eli: Just don’t hold your breath.