Texas Rangers Make Shocking Early Staff Change, Fire Longtime Hitting Coach

The Texas Rangers made a surprising early season coaching change early on Sunday evening.

As first reported by Jeff Passan of ESPN among others, the Rangers have fired hitting coach Donnie Ecker amidst massive struggles from the lineup.

The Rangers are the second-worst offense in baseball in terms of runs scored and have a record below .500, sitting at 17-18 despite their borderline elite pitching.

A 3.44 ERA as a pitching staff ties Texas for sixth in all of baseball and places them fourth in the American League, though each team ranked ahead of them has a winning record.

It's not a particularly shocking move to see the Rangers make a change, however the timing of it certainly is a little bit surprising just a month into the season.

Major League Baseball is a marathon and not a sprint, however clearly Texas brass felt the issue was drastic enough to need to make a change right now.

With someone like Jake Burger struggling so badly he was sent to Triple-A and Joc Pederson struggling to find his footing, the Rangers will look elsewhere in terms of coaching to solve the issue.

Ecker has been with the organization since prior to the 2022 season, hired with an official title of bench coach and offensive coordinator.

In his first year, Texas ranked No. 12 in baseball in runs scored, but in the second year he helped the lineup get to a new level. Ranking third in baseball in runs scores in 2023, Ecker helped guide them to their first World Series.

Last season saw a nose dive as the Rangers dropped down to No. 18 in runs before a dreadful first month in 2025.

Whether or not the change pays off is going to determine ultimately what direction the season goes from here on out,