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Rangers Have to Keep This One Important Staff Member for Next Season

Originally posted on Texas Rangers on SI | By Brad Wakai | Last updated Oct 8, 2025 8:00 PM ET

The Texas Rangers have started to make some changes this offseason.

After missing the playoffs for two years in a row coming off their first World Series championship in franchise history, it was announced that future Hall of Fame manager Bruce Bochy would not be back for the 2026 campaign and past NL Manager of the Year Skip Schumaker would take over that role.

As a result of that change, longtime catching coach Bobby Wilson said that he will also not be returning to the Rangers next season, meaning Schumaker will have to find a replacement on his coaching staff. That signals some major changes could be coming for Texas ahead of next year.

While it's clear that the offense could use a complete revival based on how poor they performed throughout the season, one thing that doesn't need to change is their approach to pitching, which is led by Mike Maddux.

Mike Maddux Deemed Staff Member Who Has To Return in 2026

Brought back to the franchise for his second stint with the Rangers ahead of the 2023 season, the pitching coach has been an important piece of Texas having the success they've had, even if they've missed the playoffs the past two years.

Because of that, Jeff Speicher of Nolan Writin believes the Rangers have to do whatever it takes to keep Maddux on staff under Schumaker.

"The organization would be foolish to overlook how important Maddux is to the success of the team. If they want to overhaul more coaches, then they should be looking in the direction of hitting coaches Bret Boone and Justin Viele first. New skipper Skip Schumaker's first order of business should be retaining his well-respected pitching coach," he wrote.

Got our Skip.

Skip Schumaker has been named the 21st full-time manager in franchise history. pic.twitter.com/pqx9hwdAYw
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) October 4, 2025

It makes sense why that is the sentiment. After Maddux was brought back under Bochy ahead of the 2023 season, the Rangers have been extremely effective when it comes to their pitching staff.

During the year they won the World Series, they went from having a 4.28 ERA that ranked them 18th in the regular season to owning a figure that was 3.83 in the playoffs and powered them to a ring. While Texas struggled in 2024 with an ERA of 4.35 that put them 24th across Major League Baseball, they bounced back in a huge way this year.

With a staff ERA of 3.47, they were the best in the MLB. In addition to that, Maddux was able to formulate a plan that kept Jacob deGrom healthy for the entire year and navigated a bullpen that didn't have a true closer.

He is a major asset to the Rangers, and they would be smart to keep him around.