Two years after he retired from a 14-year Major League Baseball career as a second baseman, Tucson native Ian Kinsler’s time with Team Israel began.
“My Jewish heritage means a lot to me — it’s part of who I am,” said the 42-year-old Kinsler, who graduated from Oro Valley’s Canyon del Oro High School in 2000. “Since becoming a citizen and making friends with people who live in Israel, my heritage has shined brighter for me personally.”
Kinsler, a four-time MLB All-Star and two-time Gold Glove Award winner, is one of the best Jewish baseball players of all time. He currently works as a special assistant to the Texas Rangers general manager. Kinsler won a World Series ring with the Boston Red Sox in 2018 as a player and with the Rangers as an executive in 2023 — at the expense of the hometown favorite Arizona Diamondbacks.
“Winning the World Series is the pinnacle of the sport, so anytime you are a part of a team, whether player or executive, it’s extremely rewarding,” Kinsler said. “I was very lucky and proud to be a part of both title teams.
Kinsler, who is in the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame, finished with 1,999 career hits. Coming up one short of the 2,000 milestone might eat away at some ballplayers, but not Kinsler.
“1,999 is all I could muster,” he said.
Kinsler became an Israeli citizen in 2020 and joined Team Israel as a player for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, which were played in 2021 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The Israelis defeated Mexico in their Olympic debut, and three years later, Kinsler was named Team Israel’s manager in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in Miami, where they defeated Nicaragua. He succeeded Colorado Rockies coach Jerry Weinstein in the manager role.
“Team Israel General Manager Peter Krutz and Team President Jordy Alter approached me about managing Team Israel,” Kinsler said. “It’s a huge honor and a great way to represent my father’s side of the family.”
It’s a role that Kinsler will reprise in next year’s WBC, for which Israel has already qualified.
“The WBC does great things for the sport of baseball for all countries,” Kinsler said. “It definitely brings the players closer together from their respective countries.”
Prior to his time with Team Israel, Kinsler helped lead the United States to a gold medal in the 2017 WBC in Los Angeles.
Growing up in Tucson, Kinsler was coached by his father, Howard Kinsler, in youth baseball. He considers the elder Kinsler to be his biggest influence on his baseball career.
The Diamondbacks drafted Kinsler in the 29th round of the 2000 MLB Draft, but instead, he chose to play for Central Arizona College in Coolidge. After hitting .405 at CAC, he stayed in the Phoenix area at Arizona State where he teamed with fellow future All-Stars Dustin Pedroia and Andre Ethier.
Kinsler then transferred to the University of Missouri, where he hit .335, attracting the attention of the Rangers, who drafted him in the 17th round of the 2003 MLB Draft.
“Missouri was my best option, and I absolutely loved my time there,” Kinsler said. “I’m still in touch and involved with the university.”
It took just three years for Kinsler to make the major leagues in 2006 at age 23 and another four seasons to lead the Rangers to their first-ever World Series appearance in 2010. The Rangers were just a strike away from winning the World Series in 2011.
After eight seasons with the Rangers, Kinsler headed north to Detroit, where he was the Tigers’ best Jewish player since Hank Greenberg. He was an All-Star in his first season (2014) and a Gold Glove winner in his third (2016) in Michigan.
Kinsler spent the 2018 season with the Los Angeles Angels and the Red Sox before concluding his MLB career with the San Diego Padres in 2019. In 2019, he was inducted into the Pima County Athletic Hall of Fame.
In his current role with the Rangers, Kinsler has a wide range of responsibilities, including scouting, draft preparation, roster construction, and minor league development.
