Former Auckland Tuatara pitcher Jared Koenig established himself as an important part of the Milwaukee Brewers’ bullpen in 2024. Photo / Getty Images
Five years after joining the Auckland Tuatara, Jared Koenig has become a staple of the Milwaukee Brewers’ bullpen in Major League Baseball. He speaks with Christopher Reive about his unconventional journey to baseball’s biggest stage.
Running out of the bullpen to pitch in Major League Baseball’s playoffs in front of a 40,350-strong crowd; the seventh innings, with the game in the balance at home against the New York Mets when you’re already 1-0 down in a best-of-three series.
It’s a situation young baseball players dream of finding themselves in, and it was an introduction to the MLB post-season that Milwaukee Brewers reliever Jared Koenig savoured in 2024.
Koenig threw just seven pitches in the innings – getting two hitters to ground out before allowing Pete Alonso to get on base – but did his job as the Brewers tried to prevent the Mets building on a 3-2 lead.
The Milwaukee side went on to win the game 5-3 to level the series, before being knocked out in heartbreaking circumstances in game three.
For Koenig, it was a setting far removed from his time spent with the Auckland Tuatara in the Australian Baseball League, but a setting the time with the Tuatara helped him reach.
The American lefty joined the now-extinct Tuatara baseball team for their second campaign, signing with the franchise as a starting pitcher for the 2019-20 season. At the time, Koenig had been playing in the American independent leagues after being drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 2014 but not signing.
“I was the one reaching out for it,” Koenig recalls of joining the Auckland team.
“I wanted to go to Australia or New Zealand – I actually didn’t even know about New Zealand in terms of winter ball. I knew Australia and I was trying to go to Adelaide. I was talking to a club team there actually, not even the ABL team.”
A teammate at the time had been in contact with both the Tuatara and the Melbourne Aces about joining them for the ABL season, ultimately signing with Melbourne. Koenig suggested that his teammate send his information to the Auckland team, and ultimately pitching coach DJ Carrasco and manager Steve Mintz decided Koenig was the right fit for the team.
“It all worked out. I knew the fact that I got to go to New Zealand was something special, that’s a special place in my heart and I’m excited whenever I get a chance to go back.”
Koenig didn’t set the world on fire as he was finding his feet in Auckland, admitting his pre-season work “wasn’t very good” as he was still figuring things out. But by the time the season started, he quickly established himself as one of the top ace pitchers in the competition.
