The Rangers announced a number of coaching staff hires this afternoon. Most notably, they named Travis Jankowski as first base coach. That suggests the 34-year-old is retiring after an 11-game major league career.
Jankowski has carved out a solid career as an outfielder with speed and defensive depth. He appeared in more than 700 MLB games and had nearly 1,800 at-bats. The left-handed hitter slashed .236/.318/.305 in 366 at-bats and stole 104 bases. Jankowski had little power, hitting only 11 home runs, but he hit 54 doubles and 10 triples. He made 98 runs and scored 220 runs.
Jankowski, a former first-round pick of the Padres, spent the first five seasons of his career in San Diego. He went on to play for a total of eight teams, including the 2023-24 Arlington season. Jankowski’s best season comes in 2023. He posted a personal-best .263 average in the World Series while batting a strong .357 on base. Jankowski added three hits and two RBIs in nine postseason at-bats. His numbers declined the following season, and he appeared in 25 games this year between the White Sox, Rays, and Mets, apparently ending his career.
Jankowski is a well-known figure in the Texas front office. While his playing career at Texas was spent under Bruce Bochy, he has also been linked to new head coach Skip Schumaker. The Rangers captain was Jankowski’s first base coach in San Diego during the 2018-19 season during his final two seasons as a Padre. Jankowski now serves in that role at Arlington, where he may also participate in outfield and stolen-base coaching.
Texas also confirmed the previously reported hiring of Alex Cintrón as assistant hitting coach. They added Rod Barajas as quality control coach, a move first announced last week by Rocket City Trash Panda broadcaster Chris Harris. Barajas will serve as coach of the Angels’ Double-A team in 2025. He previously worked with Shoemaker on the major league staffs of the Padres and Marlins.
The Rangers also hired Colby Suggs as bullpen coach. (The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reported last week that Suggs, 34, could get a job at Texas.) He has been in the same role with the Twins since the middle of the 2022 season.
Suggs succeeds Jordan Teagues as bullpen coach, who was promoted to pitching coach. The 38-year-old was the longtime minor league pitching coach in the Texas system before getting his first MLB coaching opportunity last season. The Rangers lost veteran pitching coach Mike Maddux, and the Angels kept them in-house, filling the position with the much younger Teagues.
There were also fewer role changes among members of Boch’s final coaching staff. Justin Viele, who shared the head hitting coach duties with Bret Boone this year, now serves as the head hitting coach. Texas has announced that Corey Ragsdale will be transferred from first base to third base coach. Brett Hayes transitioned from quality control coach to receivers coach. Bench coach Luis Urrueta and assistant pitching coach Dave Bush return to the same roles. Texas will be hiring an additional person in a yet-to-be-determined position to bolster its staff.
