Rangers finalize coaching staff with new hitting coach and a couple of familiar faces

The Texas Rangers have at least solved one pressing question this offseason as new manager Skip Schumaker has finalized the coaching staff that will lead the team into his first season.

Headlined by internal promotions and a mix of new and familiar faces — including Bret Boone’s departure, Justin Viele and Jordan Tiege’s elevations to lead hitting and pitching coach, and the additions of former Astros coach Alex Cíntron and former Rangers Travis Jankowski and Rod Barajas.

This spells a massive transition to the Schumaker era of Rangers' baseball. While some of the World Series coaching staff remain in place, the organization does see overhaul in some key spots.

Viele, Cintron to lead Rangers' hitters into 2026

A lot has been said about the Rangers' offense over the last two seasons. Most notably, fans saw a significant decline in production from their 2023 title season and it hit an ultimate low during the Rangers 81-81 season this year.

It caused Donnie Ecker his job early in the regular season, replaced by Boone, who is now out of the organization alongside hitting coach Seth Conner. They've been replaced by Viele and former Astros' hitting coach Alex Cíntron.

Viele is entering his second season with the Rangers after being hired prior to the 2024 season and spent time under Ecker and Boone throughout his first year in Arlington. A former ballplayer himself, Tiege was drafted by Baltimore in 2013 and played four years in the minors.

Cíntron, 46, joined the Astros' staff in 2017 as the team's Spanish translator, advance coach and assistant coach. He was promoted to first-base coach in 2018 and then to hitting coach in 2019. He and three other coaches were not retained by Houston in 2025 after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

Under Cíntron in 2025, Houston wasn't as sound offensively as they had been in the past but still recorded the 12th-best batting average (.250) in MLB and within the top half of the league in OPS, SLG and OBP.

Meanwhile, in 2025, the Rangers were one of the worst hitting teams in all of baseball, finishing in the bottom five of several important offensive categories ranging from average (.234), OBP (.302), slugging percentage (.381), OPS (.683) and runs scored (684).

Welcome back to Texas, Barajas and El Blondi

The departures of long-time catching coach Bobby Wilson and third-base coach Tony Beasley were among one of the hardest news to digest for Rangers' fans early in the offseason.

With Wednesday's coaching announcement, the Rangers move Corey Ragsdale from first-base to thrid-base coach to fill Beasley's role. In conjunction, they hired former Ranger and World Series champion Travis Jankowski to take over as first-base coach.

Shock was a bit of a understatement when the announcement became official. No one was expecting Jankowski to return to Texas and in this capacity. But it was a happy shock and surprise as "El Blondi" is a fan favorite in Arlington and will always be respected for his heroics in games 3, 4 and 5 of the 2023 World Series.

The second surprise was the hiring of former big league catcher Rod Barajas, who takes over as the Rangers quality control coach. Barajas is a 14-year MLB veteran catcher who played with Texas from 2004-07.

Barajas recently served as the assistant coach for the Los Angeles Angels Double-A affiliate, Rocket City and in 2023-24 was the Miami Marlins field coordinator under Schumaker.

Other coaching additions and changes include adding bullpen coach Colby Suggs and moving Brett Hayes to catchers coach, a role previously held by Bobby Wilson.