By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Keone Kela didn't have a favorite baseball team when he was growing up, even though he always loved the sport.

"I just liked specific players," said the graduate of Chief Sealth International High School in West Seattle.
Now his favorite players are his Texas Rangers teammates.

"It's great to be in Texas," said the second year relief pitcher. "We have a unique team and a great group of guys."

The Rangers won the American League West title last year and are hoping for more of the same.
"I know our chances are real good," Kela said. "I think we can do the same and then keep pushing forward. I think they're great. The Texas Rangers organization only puts up the best team they can."
Kela, who was born in Los Angeles on April 16, 1993, played a key role in helping the Rangers to last year's title.
He was the eighth-inning setup man most of last year, and is a late-inning setup man again this year in a bullpen that has been bolstered by the likes of former Seattle Mariners reliever Tom Wilhelmsen and Tony Barnette -- a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School in Federal Way who starred the past six seasons in Japan.

"I enjoy my role," Kela said. "We have a great bullpen this year. There's a lot of guys that have your back here."
Kela throws mostly a fastball that registers on the radar gun at 96-98 miles per hour and mixes in a change-up and curveball.

Texas drafted him in the 12th round in 2012 with the 396th pick after he spent one year at Everett Community College.

As for his days at Chief Sealth, Kela spent only his senior year at the school after moving up from Los Angeles -- but what a year it was.
"My senior year we had a good season at Chief Sealth," said Kela, who lived in this area for awhile before high school as well. "We made the playoffs for the first time in 26 years. We lost to O'Dea in the playoffs, but we beat West Seattle on senior day. It had been a long time since we beat West Seattle. That was really cool."
Kela has other memories as well.

"I used to go to Seahurst Park a lot," he said. "And I played ball with a lot of good guys in the area."
Kela left a lot of tickets for friends at the recent road swing to Seattle.
"I have a pretty good amount here," said Kela, whose family no longer lives in Washington. "A lot of guys like ex teammates are showing up, and baseball coaches and stuff like that."

Kela enjoyed spending three days playing at Safeco Field.

"I enjoy visiting Seattle. It brings me back to my younger days as a child and as a teenager," he said. "It's really cool to come back here. I grew up in the area watching the 2001 (Seattle Mariners) team."
So Seattle Mariners have been among Kela's favorite players, but now his heart is in Texas.

"It's cool," he said of being a Rangers player. "I just get to play the game that I love."