Kurt Ainsworth

Kurt Ainsworth was a pitcher who helped the USA win a baseball gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Ainsworth played for LSU in college and was a first-round draft pick (24th overall) of the San Francisco Giants in the 1999 MLB draft. After the Olympics he was with the Shreveport Captains of the Texas League, and then with the Fresno Grizzlies of the Pacific Coast League.

Ainsworth was called up to the majors in 2001 with the Giants and played four seasons of major league ball, from 2001-03, with the Giants and then in 2003-04 with the Baltimore Orioles. His first two seasons were solid, but he then developed a series of shoulder injuries and was out of pro ball after spending the 2005 spring training with the Orioles.

Along with LSU head trainer Jack Marucci, and Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Joe Lawrence, Ainsworth started several companies making bats. They started with the Marucci Bat Company and Big Leagues of Baton Rouge, but the companies were eventually consolidated into Marucci Sports, which produced what became the most popular bat in the Major Leagues.