Arlington, Texas — Former Kansas City T-Bones manager Kenny Hook will serve as the hitting coach for the rookie-level Arizona League Rangers during the 2014 season, the Texas Rangers announced on January 8.
The 13-team Arizona League, whose players are recent high school and college draftees, as well as young players from Latin America, plays a 56-game season from June through August. The AZL Rangers, who play at the club’s spring training complex in Surprise, Ariz., won the West Division in 2013 with a 32-23 record, and captured the league championship in 2012, going 34-22.
Hook, 38, managed the T-Bones during the 2012 and 2013 seasons, and served as the team’s assistant coach in 2011, the franchise’s first season in the American Association. During his time as manager, the club went a combined 91-109.
Prior to the T-Bones, Hook spent nine seasons coaching at Maple Woods Community College (Kansas City, Mo.).
The native of Kansas City, Mo., played five seasons of professional baseball, one for the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings of the Central League in 2002, and four for the Texas-Louisiana League’s Amarillo Dillas from 1997 to 2000. In 1999, he hit a career-high .301 and was a member of the Dillas’ league championship squad. Hook played collegiately at Crowder (Mo.) and at Benedictine (Kan.)
Photo: Matthew Hicks / Kansas City T-Bones
