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Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy names A’s skipper Mark Kotsay AL All-Star assistant

The league also tabbed James Hoye as the game’s crew chief, who was the crew chief of two of the most controversial moments in the Rangers’ 2023 World Series season.

The Texas Rangers are set to make some history when they host the 94th Midsummer Classic at Globe Life Field. It will be the first time the defending World Series champion has hosted the All-Star Game since the Yankees hosted the 1939 All-Star Game after winning the 1938 World Series.

The managers of the American League and National League have been the previous year’s World Series teams since 1934, meaning Rangers manager Bruce Bochy and Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo will be the skippers at this year’s game. Both managers select their coaching staffs. The league released the full list of umpires, coaches and trainers for the game in a press release Tuesday.

Bochy named Oakland Athletics manager Mark Kotsay an honorary coach, joining the rest of the Rangers coaching staff to round out the AL coaches. Their relationship goes back to San Diego, where Bochy was Kotsay’s manager with the Padres from 2001-03. Kotsay played 17 seasons in the major leagues, but this will be his first trip to the All-Star Game.

Rangers trainer Matt Lucero was also named one of the athletic trainers for the AL.

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Lovullo tabbed Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell to join the NL staff alongside the rest of the Arizona coaching staff. Bell, in his sixth season as Reds manager, will be appearing in his first All-Star Game as well. He played 12 seasons in the major leagues and was teammates with Lovullo in Cleveland in the 1998 season. Bell also worked under Bochy on the San Francisco Giants coaching staff from 2014-17.

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James Hoye was named the crew chief for the All-Star Game and will be calling balls and strikes behind the plate. Remember that name, Rangers fans?

Hoye has a recent history with the Rangers and was specifically involved in two landmark moments during Texas’ 2023 World Series season.

First, Hoye was the crew chief of the controversial ending between the Rangers and White Sox last June in which it was ruled Jonah Heim blocked home plate. The ruling allowed Chicago’s (and longtime Ranger) Elvis Andrus to score the winning run in the game after he was initially ruled out. Bruce Bochy angrily marched out of the dugout, looking for an explanation, but was ejected for arguing the New York replay center’s ruling.

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Bochy later called the ruling “one of the worst” he’s ever seen.

Umpire Marvin Hudson (51) tries to separate Texas Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia (53)...
Umpire Marvin Hudson (51) tries to separate Texas Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia (53) and Houston Astros catcher Martin Maldonado after Garcia was hit by a pitch during the eighth inning in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series on Friday, Oct. 20, in Arlington.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

Hoye was also the crew chief in Game 5 of the ALCS in which Adolis García, Astros manager Dusty Baker, and Astros reliever Bryan Abreu were ejected after a bench-clearing controversy occurred when García was hit with a pitch in the eighth inning. García immediately turned to then-Astros catcher Martín Maldonado and wagging his finger, which led to the benches being cleared. Hoye determined García was the “aggressor,” which is why he ejected the Rangers outfielder. Abreu was handed a two-game suspension for throwing at García and missed Game 6 and Game 7 of the series.

“We felt the first pitch Abreu threw, 99 miles an hour, hit [Garcia] by the shoulder area,” umpiring crew chief James Hoye told a pool reporter after the game Friday. “There was a little situation between García and Maldonado. The benches emptied on the field. So after we cleared everybody, all the players, we separated the players, we had a conference among the six of us, and we decided that the pitch that Abreu threw was intentional on García, so he was ejected for that.

“Subsequently García, we felt like after he was hit with the Maldonado situation, we felt like he was the aggressor there, García was trying to go through Marvin (Hudson, the home plate umpire) to get to Maldonado,” Hoye added. “And we felt like he was the aggressor and continued the dispute because he was aggressive. And so we ejected him for that reason, being an aggressor in that situation.”

As we now know, the moment served as an apparent spark for the Rangers, who went down to Houston and won Games 6 and 7 to punch their ticket to the World Series.

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