Ian Kinsler (41), who took the lead of the Israeli national team at the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), returned to the front of his former team, the Major League Baseball (MLB) Texas Rangers.
The Texas team announced on the 7th (Korean time) that it had recruited Kinsler as a special assistant to general manager Chris Young.
Texas is the team where Kinsler made his debut and spent his heyday. After being nominated in the 17th round by the Texas Rangers in 2003, he played in 120 games since his debut season in 2006, hitting 0.286 and hitting 14 homers, quickly establishing himself as a key player. After that, for eight years until 2013, he recorded a batting average of 0.273, 156 homers, and 172 steals only in Texas, and played an active role as a leadoff representative of the team. He hit 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in 2009 and 2011, and made four All-Star appearances.
However, the ending was not good. Texas, which threw a game to win the 2014 championship, signed Choo Shin-soo as a free agent (FA). In addition, to reinforce his long hitting power, he traded Prince Fielder, a home run hitter from the Detroit Tigers, 토토사이트 and the player he sent in return was Kinsler. Kinsler continued to play for three more seasons, but Texas’ selection ended in failure as Fielder suffered from sluggishness and injuries.
Through Detroit, Kinsler earned his first World Series championship ring in 2018, playing for the Los Angeles Angels and Boston Red Sox. He then moved to the San Diego Padres, where he finished his professional career in 2019. His career record is 0.269 batting average, 257 home runs and 909 RBIs in 1888 games.
Kinsler, who played for the Israeli national team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC) and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will participate in the WBC as the coach of the Israeli national team. While he was preparing for the WBC, he even returned to his home team. Kinsler said, “I am very happy to be returning to the team where I first started as a major leaguer. I will do whatever the team needs.”