Texeira selected to MLB All-Star Futures Game staff

Yahoo

2 days ago

After logging time in the major leagues as a pitcher, Maui native Kanekoa Texeira is once again climbing the professional baseball ladder, this time from the dugout.
Texeira, a Kamehameha Schools graduate from Kula, Maui, is in his second season as the Triple-A manager for the Gwinnett Stripers, the Atlanta Braves' top affiliate in the International League. The former big-league reliever, who pitched 67 innings across two seasons with the Seattle Mariners and Kansas City Royals from 2010 to 2012, has quickly gained respect as a rising managerial talent.
That reputation has earned him a new honor, a spot on the coaching staff for the 2025 All-Star Futures Game, set for July 12 at Truist Park in Atlanta.
'Hey, you know, it's fun,' Texeira said. 'It's always been part of my dream to stick in this game as long as I can. Reach out to lots of kids or players that I can share in the knowledge I've learned. I still get shocked sometimes, managing a Triple-A team, one step away from the big leagues. If it happens, it happens. If not, I'm still proud of what I've done and what I'm doing right now.'
Texeira's selection to the Futures Game staff came via a text from Braves legend Chipper Jones.
'Chipper texted me and said, 'Hey, you want to coach third base?'' Texeira recalled. 'I said, 'Of course.' Then he said, 'Good, because you're going to be with me in the Futures Game.' I told him, 'I'd be stupid to say no to Chipper Jones, man. I got you.''
Growing up in Hawai'i, Texeira remembers watching the Braves daily on TBS, the only major league team regularly televised in the Islands at that time.
'100%, 100%,' he said. 'We only could watch the Braves. Just Chipper, you know… I even got to face him when I played, toward the end of his career. That was big for me. Now you got Tim Hudson and a bunch of studs on the Futures Game staff. It's going to be fun, man.'
Texeira is in his seventh year as a professional coach. Just last week, the Stripers celebrated 'Tex Day,' donning Aloha Friday jerseys in his honor, a tribute to his Hawaiian roots, nearly 5,000 miles away from the islands.
The All-Star Futures Game showcases the top minor league talent from across baseball and is widely considered a preview of the game's next generation of stars. Texeira is proving he might just be one of the next coaching stars as well.
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