ARLINGTON, Texas – With a bit of reluctance, Texas superstar Josh Hamilton is the latest member of the Rangers to set up a Twitter account.
Hamilton launched @thejoshhamilton not because he has embraced social media, but because he got fed up with fake accounts.
"It would be good to have an official deal so fans can know it's actually a post from me or response from me," Hamilton said. "I'm sick of having to take people off Twitter who are acting like me that are not really me. It's not right for fans to think I'm out there saying stuff, and it's not really me."
How involved Hamilton will be is unclear. He admits he's not too technologically savvy and just got an iPhone a few months ago. Hamilton held up his bat and pine-tar rag to show what the tools of his trade are.
Still, he will handle some tweets himself.
"I'll put out statements," he said. "I'll let my agent handle most of it. I'll update it, but I'm not going to be bothered with it. My wife (Katie) got off hers because it was a pain in the butt."
The account was verified by Twitter late Tuesday afternoon.
Hamilton already has more than 36,000 followers but has posted just a few tweets since creating the account on Monday.
Several Rangers — including Derek Holland, Elvis Andrus, Mike Napoli and Yu Darvish — already have Twitter accounts.
