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With maturity comes confidence for ex-Bears standout Hoopii-Tuionetoa

Baldwin grad putting up some eye-popping numbers in first season with Class A Wood Ducks

Bubba Hoopii-Tuionetoa pitches during a game for the Down East Wood Ducks this season. Hoopii-Tuionetoa, a 2018 graduate of Baldwin High School, has a 2-3 record in 29 appearances for the Texas Rangers’ Class A Advanced affiliate with 55 strikeouts and 16 walks in 33 innings. WILL TREADAWAY photo

On Maui, places are designated by names like Upcountry, the Pali and Wai Side.

In North Carolina, the city of Kinston is designated as being Down East. In fact, the city’s Class A baseball team is named the Down East Wood Ducks.

One of their pitchers goes by Bubba, although he hails from the Valley Isle. Anthony David Maui La’akea Hoopii-Tuionetoa — simply Bubba to all who know him well — has been dominating the Carolina League as a relief pitcher for the Wood Ducks this season after a jump from Rookie-level play last season.

The 2018 Baldwin High School graduate, now 21, has grown up from the soft-spoken, slender 17-year-old drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 17th round in 2018, immediately after finishing high school.

He chose to turn down the Twins and go to Pierce College in Puyallup, Wash., and was drafted again a year later, this time in the 30th round by the Texas Rangers.

Bubba Hoopii-Tuionetoa’s fastball is routinely running in the 94-96 mph range and has touched 98 a few times. WILL TREADAWAY photo

“I mean, there was a lot of adversity, for sure, from 2019 until honestly last year,” Hoopii-Tuionetoa said after arriving at the team hotel in Fredericksburg, Va., on Tuesday. “In 2019, obviously not throwing and my development wasn’t really up there, I was still like kind of far behind a lot of people.”

He sat out the 2019 season after he signed with the Rangers because “some minor stuff came up on the MRI.” The 2020 minor league seasons across the nation were wiped out by COVID-19, and last season he pitched in the Arizona Complex League at the Rookie level.

This season he has a 2-3 record in 29 appearances for the Wood Ducks, but also has several eye-popping other numbers.

His fastball is routinely running in the 94-96 mph range and has touched 98 a few times. He has 55 strikeouts and 16 walks in 33 innings, his WHIP is 1.39, and opponents are hitting just .234 against him.

“I think that coming into last year — because last year was my first year actually, like, pitching, pitching in the organization — there was a big mindset flip on my end, which was not having too much self-doubt,” he said. “Because there was a lot of self-doubt while I was watching everybody pitch and having good reps, and taking leaps, leaps and leaps.”

Indeed, Hoopii-Tuionetoa’s maturity has developed across the board.

“I think that understanding who I was and who I am, kind of made it a lot easier. I realized that I can do the same things these guys do,” he said. “Just being able to mature in all aspects — physical, mental — it was hard, but I mean just maturing on and off the field kind of took off for me and ever since then it’s just been kind of going up.”

Hoopii-Tuionetoa doesn’t feel the self-doubts that came with the jump from high school — where he dominated for the 2018 Baldwin state championship team that finished ranked No. 8 in the USA Today national poll — to college and then to professional baseball.

“Not giving in to little things, being able to make adjustments throughout the game, which is needed here — yeah, I think that just maturing was the biggest jump for myself,” Hoopii-Tuionetoa said.

Shane Dudoit, a Rangers associate scout who coached Hoopii-Tuionetoa at Baldwin, has watched his pupil develop with an immense sense of pride. The Rangers were poised to pick Hoopii-Tuionetoa in the 2018 draft, but the Twins just nudged them out.

“You know what, he’s made leaps and bounds from when he first got drafted and even up to a couple of years ago when he was drafted by the Rangers,” Dudoit said Wednesday. “He came back during the Christmas break, he came over, we had some lunch. I was just amazed at the adult, the responsible person he turned into.

“And I asked him what it was that made the difference and he said there’s a mental kind of fundamental guy that the Rangers have in their facility that these players have access to 24 hours.”

That interaction made a huge difference, from what Dudoit could tell.

“He used that, he went to the mental people, and talked to them and they were able to get the best out of him as far as him talking story and now he’s able to hold a conversation with anyone,” Dudoit said. “We were hosting a few kids from Hawaii and we took him into a few meetings with us with the Rangers and it was amazing.

“He did a good job, he explained what Major League Baseball is all about, he was able to answer questions that the parents had. I am very, very happy with the place that he’s in right now.”

The entire experience with Hoopii-Tuionetoa has made Dudoit even more proud to be a Texas Rangers scout.

“That’s credit towards the Rangers and the system that they have set up for these young players,” Dudoit said. “It’s awesome, brah, it’s so awesome. I was blown away, we had lunch with him, we held a conversation, just the things that he talked about. He called Jack Leiter, him and Jack Leiter were there together. Jack Leiter, the No. 2 pick in the draft last year.

“These were conversations where back in the day he would be afraid to have a conversation with Jack Leiter. Now, he understands that he’s a part of the team — he’s there for a reason, brah. He’s there for a reason. As much as the Rangers needed Jack Leiter, the Rangers need Bubba Hoopii-Tuionetoa as well.”

Hoopii-Tuionetoa is grateful for all Dudoit has done for him.

“He been the person that has done so much for me, he put me in the spot where I honestly never thought I’d be,” Hoopii-Tuionetoa said. “Especially coming from my senior year, when everything started to come out for myself, he put me in probably one of the best spots that anybody could ever ask for. I couldn’t be any more thankful to him.

“Just like the support he has for me is unmatchable. He’s like family. The things that he’s done for me is just incredible and unreal.”

Hoopii-Tuionetoa said he has no question that his mental game has been strengthened.

“Oh yeah, I believe now my mind is in the right place,” Hoopii-Tuionetoa said. “You know, dealing with not pitching in 2019 and then coming to spring training in 2020 and then it — spring training and the season — being canceled was kind of rough.

“Because there were some times when you sit at home and think to yourself: ‘Man, am I ever going to get the chance to showcase what I’ve been working on? How I’ve been progressing in certain ways.’ “

Hoopii-Tuionetoa knows he has come a long way.

“The path that I went through, some people wouldn’t choose it, but understanding that there was so much more of a purpose in baseball, and just being able to keep my head straight, as straight as possible and just go through that COVID year, come back in 2021,” Hoopii-Tuionetoa said. “Coming into 2021, I was still on the fence about a lot of things, still like a little bit of self-doubt, like not really being in tune with myself.

“But I think all that COVID stuff gave me a good mental break from just consistently being on baseball every single time, still thinking about what would happen if this and that happened. I think that my head was just able to stay on straight and I was just being able to keep it locked in and dialed in as much as I could.”

Hoopii-Tuionetoa said he is now 100 percent healthy and ready to roll. He has not been told where he will be assigned next season, but his numbers indicate he is a solid candidate to move up the ladder.

“I feel stronger physically and everything’s possible,” Hoopii-Tuionetoa said. “Coming here at the beginning of the season it wasn’t all that great. It took me a little while to get used to it. Pitching in the complex league where it’s just players and scouts watching, then coming here it’s a little bit different because I haven’t pitched in front of people in so long.”

The Mud Ducks’ fans routinely pack the 3,410-seat Grainger Stadium in Kinston.

“My confidence right now is there — I just try to go after people and, you know, live with the results, that’s just the way the game goes,” Hoopii-Tuionetoa said. “Fans here are into it a whole lot, I can tell you that. All the people from Kinston, they’re full blown on the Down East Wood Ducks. They love the Wood Ducks.”

Hoopii-Tuionetoa has always taken pride in being from Maui. As he spreads the aloha spirit in North Carolina, he does it with a smile.

“I take a whole bunch of pride in it,” he said. “I mean, that’s where I grew up. That’s where everything that I’ve learned as a person, baseball player, that’s where everything began. The community, the support is crazy, so I feel like if I’m not proud and showing off where I’m from, I don’t think it’s fair to people back home.

“I try to show it off as much as possible. That’s where everything started for me.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

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