Hoopii-Tuionetoa garners attention after strong 2022
It is the final item from a story about a few of the best prospects in the Texas Rangers organization on milb.com, the official website of minor league baseball.
One line above the final paragraph of the story reads, in bold type — Reliever: Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa.
If the name doesn’t quite click right away, it is because Hoopii-Tuionetoa — a Baldwin High School graduate, 2018 state champion and state player of the year for a Bears team that finished ranked No. 8 in the country by USA Today — is known by most on his home island as “Bubba.”
The paragraph in the story below his name spells out just how impressive
Hoopii-Tuionetoa’s 2022 season went:
“A 30thround selection in the 2019 Draft, Hoopii-Tuionetoa racked up 67 strikeouts in 43 2/3 innings over 36 appearances for Down East, finishing with a 3.09 ERA. He was one of only 52 Minor Leaguers to complete at least 40 frames and maintain a K/9 of at least 13.8. The 22-year-old native of Wailuku, Hawaii, converted eight of nine save opportunities.”
Hoopii-Tuionetoa was named to the milb.com list of organization all-stars for the Rangers in a story written by Gerard Gilberto after Hoopii-Tuionetoa’s breakout season for the single-A Down East Wood Ducks in Kinston, N.C.
“It’s special — it was cool to be considered in that conversation, that’s the first thing to say, to even be considered in that conversation is pretty cool,” Hoopii-Tuionetoa said late last month. “I feel like I’m starting to find my step in what I’m doing in my professional baseball career. I feel that I’m starting to do the right thing and I’m starting to put the pieces together and starting to slowly figure things out.
“It’s still a hard game to play and you never know some things. Sometimes you feel really high and then you’re really low next. So, you never really know, but it’s a step in the right direction seeing something like that.”
Hoopii-Tuionetoa was a standout center fielder for the Bears when he wasn’t on the mound and after turning down the Minnesota Twins, who drafted him in the 19th round directly out of high school in 2018, he became a starting pitcher at Pierce Community College in Puyallup, Wash.