Gulls in the Pros- Josh Kuroda-Grauer

For Immediate Release 6/30/26

“Gulls in the Pros” added a new member last night as Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, a 2022 Newport Gull, made an impressive major league debut.

Newport was Kuroda-Grauer’s first collegiate summer stop, where he played 44 games and emerged as one of the NECBL’s top hitters, batting .331 with an .867 OPS while collecting 56 hits, including 16 for extra bases. Just as impressive as his stats, Kuroda-Grauer did not miss a game during the 2022 season. 

Kuroda-Grauer parlayed that success into a standout career at Rutgers, hitting .343 with an OPS north of .900 across 162 games and earning Big Ten Player of the Year honors in 2024. Selected by the Oakland Athletics in the third round of the 2024 MLB Draft, he moved quickly through the minors—reaching the majors after just 224 professional games.

In his first major league start at shortstop against the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the 23-year-old went 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored, announcing himself on baseball’s biggest stage while continuing the proud Newport-to-pro pipeline.

Congratulations to Joshua on this incredible milestone. Everyone in the Newport Gulls organization is proud to see his hard work and dedication rewarded at the highest level. We’re honored to have been part of his journey and look forward to watching his career continue to grow. Best of luck to Joshua as he embarks on what promises to be an exciting major league career.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The Newport Gulls, members of the 13-team New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL), are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, founded as the Rhode Island Gulls in 1998 in Cranston, R.I., before moving to Newport in 2001. In addition to recruiting, fielding, and developing a team of the nation's top collegiate baseball athletes and attracting 50,000 fans annually to Cardines Field, the predominantly volunteer organization strives to benefit the community via summer camps, reading programs, fundraisers, scholarships, and charitable donations – totaling over $1 million since 2001. The Gulls are eight-time champions of the NECBL – the winningest franchise in league history – and were ranked as the overall No. 1 summer collegiate baseball team in the country by Perfect Game USA in 2012.

For more information about the Newport Gulls, visit facebook.com/newportgulls, follow the Gulls on Twitter @NewportGulls or visit www.newportgulls.com