Rangers Announce 2026 Major League Coaching Staff
Arlington, Texas — The Texas Rangers today announced that the club has finalized the majority of its 2026 Major League coaching staff under new manager Skip Schumaker. Schumaker was named manager on October 3 and is entering his first season in the role with Texas. The Rangers will announce the final member of the 2026 coaching staff at a later date.
New additions include Major League hitting coach Alex Cintrón (pronounced sin-TRONE), quality control coach Rod Barajas (pronounced bah-RAH-hahs), first base coach Travis Jankowski (pronounced jan-KOW-skee), and bullpen coach Colby Suggs. The additions join six staff returnees, including four in new roles for 2026 – pitching coach Jordan Tiegs, lead hitting coach Justin Viele (VEE-lee), third base coach Corey Ragsdale, and catching coach Brett Hayes – and two reprising their 2025 positions – bench coach Luis Urueta (ooh-roo-EHT-ah) and assistant pitching coach Dave Bush.
Cintrón joins the Rangers after spending nine seasons on the Houston Astros coaching staff. He served as a Major League coach in 2017, first base coach in 2018, and hitting coach from 2019-25. During Cintrón's seven-year tenure as Houston’s hitting coach from 2019-25, the Astros led the American League in both on-base plus slugging percentage (.764) and on-base percentage (.329), also ranking highly in batting average (2nd, .259), slugging percentage (2nd, .435), runs per game (3rd, 4.90), home runs (3rd, 1,386), and walks (3rd, 3,403). Houston finished among the top five A.L. clubs in home runs in five of his seven campaigns as an Astros hitting coach, including a 2nd-place finish during the club's 2022 World Series championship season. From 2019-25, Cintrón helped guide a lineup that boasted the lowest strikeout rate in the Majors (19.6%) and the 3rd-highest walk rate in the A.L. (8.6%).
Cintrón logged 16 professional seasons as an infielder from 1997-2012 and batted .275 over a nine-year Major League career with Arizona (2001-05), Chicago-AL (2006-07), Baltimore (2008), and Washington (2009). The right-handed hitter was a 36th round selection by the Diamondbacks in the 1997 MLB Draft from Puerto Rico, debuting with the club in 2001 and finishing 9th in the N.L. with a .317 average in 2003.
Barajas, a former Rangers catcher and first baseman from 2004-06, returns to a Major League dugout after serving as an assistant coach with Los Angeles-AL's Double-A Rocket City affiliate in 2025. His latest stint as a Major League coach came from 2023-24 as field coordinator with Miami under manager Skip Schumaker, as he was a part of the staff that led the Marlins to a 2023 N.L. Wild Card berth. The Ontario, Calif. native began his coaching career with the San Diego organization in 2014, including five seasons as a manager and hitting coach in the Padres minor league system from 2014-2018. He was promoted to San Diego's bench coach in 2019 and was interim manager for eight games at the conclusion of that year, then completed his Padres tenure as a catching and quality control coach from 2020-21. Barajas was also a catching coordinator for the Angels organization in 2022.
Barajas played 1,114 Major League games over 14 seasons from 1999-2012 with Arizona (1999-2003), Texas (2004-06), Philadelphia (2007), Toronto (2008-09), New York-NL (2010), Los Angeles-NL (2010-11), and Pittsburgh (2012). He hit a career-high 21 home runs with the Rangers in 2005 and was teammates with current President of Baseball Operations Chris Young and Special Assistant Michael Young.
Jankowkski, 34, is making his first appearance on a Major League coaching staff following an 11-year MLB playing career with San Diego (2015-19), Cincinnati (2020), Philadelphia (2021), New York-NL (2022, 2025), Seattle (2022), Texas (2023-24), Chicago-AL (2025) and Tampa Bay (2025). The former outfielder committed just 7 errors in 872 total chances spanning 586 career games in the outfield, including a streak of 260 consecutive errorless contests that spanned almost six years. Jankowski swiped 104 bases in his career, including a career-high 30 stolen bags in 2016. From 2017-25, he was successful in 72 of 84 stolen base attempts for an 85.7% stolen base percentage – the 13th-highest mark in MLB in that span among players with at least 80 attempts.
Over his two seasons with Texas, Jankowski batted .236 (103-437) in 211 games while making defensive starts in leftfield (56), rightfield (22), and centerfield (15). In 8 games during the 2023 postseason, he went 3-for-9, including a 2-RBI double in Game 4 of the World Series vs. Arizona while serving as Texas’ starting rightfielder for Games 4 and 5 of that series after Adolis García was removed from the roster due to injury. On Opening Day 2024 vs. Chicago-NL, Jankowski belted a game-tying solo home run in the 9th to force extra innings in an eventual 4-3 win over the Cubs – the final home run of his MLB career.
Suggs, a Sulphur Springs, Tex. native, joins the Rangers after four seasons as bullpen coach with the Minnesota Twins from July 1, 2022 through the end of the 2025 season. During his tenure as the Twins' bullpen coach, Minnesota relievers recorded the 4th-most strikeouts (2,152) and 5th-fewest walks (775) in the American League. Suggs spent a total of seven years with the Twins organization, beginning as an advance scout in 2019-20 before serving as coordinator of run prevention in 2021-22. He started his coaching career in 2018 as bullpen coach for the University of Arkansas, his alma mater. The former right-handed pitcher boasted a 1.36 ERA across three collegiate seasons with the Razorbacks from 2011-13 before being chosen in the 2nd round of the 2013 MLB Draft by Miami, appearing in four minor league seasons within the Marlins system from 2013-16.
Tiegs, entering his second season on Texas’ Major League staff, spent the 2025 season as the team’s bullpen coach prior to his elevation to pitching coach for 2026. Viele has been elevated to lead hitting coach after serving as hitting coach during the 2025 season, his first with Texas. Ragsdale, the longest-tenured member of the Rangers coaching staff, will be in his seventh season with Texas and first as third base coach. He served as the club’s field coordinator and first base coach from 2020-25. Hayes, who enjoyed a 13-year playing career as a catcher, is embarking on his first season as the Rangers’ catching coach following three years as bullpen coach (2022-24) and one year as quality control coach (2025) for Texas.
Urueta is back for his second season with Texas and is reunited with Schumaker, as the duo were bench coach and manager of the Miami Marlins from 2023-24, respectively. Bush is also entering his second year in the Rangers dugout after being named to the Major League staff on November 26, 2024.
2026 will mark the 13th consecutive season (beg. 2014) for Texas to have at least two individuals that once appeared for the Rangers as a player on its coaching staff, with Jankowski, Bush, and Barajas extending the streak next year.
RANGERS 2026 MAJOR LEAGUE COACHING STAFF
Manager Skip Schumaker
Bench Coach Luis Urueta
Pitching Coach Jordan Tiegs
Lead Hitting Coach Justin Viele
Major League Hitting Coach Alex Cintrón
First Base Coach Travis Jankowski
Third Base Coach Corey Ragsdale
Quality Control Coach Rod Barajas
Catching Coach Brett Hayes
Assistant Pitching Coach Dave Bush
Bullpen Coach Colby Suggs
Major League Coach TBD
– RANGERS –