Rangers sign Hoopii-Tuionetoa

The Texas Rangers have signed free agent righthanded pitcher Anthony David Maui La’akea “Bubba” Hoopii-Tuionetoa to a minor league deal, per the MLB.com transactions page.

So, this is kind of fun news. Hoopii-Tuionetoa was a 30th round pick of the 2019 draft out of Pierce College by the Rangers, and worked his way up the organizational ladder as a reliever. A month into the 2024 season, having allowed one unearned run in 10 appearances at AA Frisco, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Robbie Grossman.

Things got weird after that. Hoopii-Tuionetoa performed okay at AA for the ChiSox before being promoted to AAA for the final month of the season, where he got gave up 13 runs in 8.2 IP over 9 appearances. He then pitched in eight games in the Arizona Fall League in 2024.

That ended up being the last that Hoopii-Tuionetoa pitched for Chicago. He was put on the temporary inactive list by the White Sox at the end of spring training in 2025, then on the restricted list a week and a half later. He was assigned the ACL squad when complex league play began, but didn’t appear in any games, and ended up being released in late July. I have not seen anywhere what the reason for the lost 2025 season was, other than it apparently wasn’t due to an injury.

Hoopii-Tuionetoa was a fringe prospect when the Rangers traded him, and there’s no telling where things stand with him at this point. That said, he could end up being a depth arm at some point. He’s been assigned to Frisco, and I would assume that’s where he would start the 2026 season.

I’m rooting for him to make it to the big leagues because, if he does, every 30th round pick of the Rangers in an odd-numbered year in the 2010s would have made it to the bigs. The others are Phil Klein (2011), Joe Palumbo (2013), Jeffrey Springs (2015), and Ryan Dorow (2017).