This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry's Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ARLINGTON -- The 2025 Rangers put together one of the best rotations in franchise history, with an MLB-best 3.41 ERA. Texas also ranked fifth in bullpen ERA (3.62).
Leading the way was not only a pair of veteran co-aces in Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, but also a veteran pitching coach in Mike Maddux. deGrom and Eovaldi remain, but Maddux departed this offseason to take the same position with the Angels, leaving the Rangers to fill the role internally.
Enter Jordan Tiegs, who was the Rangers’ bullpen coach in 2025, his first year on the big league staff.
“This guy is really, really good,” new manager Skip Schumaker said. “I know a lot of people don't know who he is, but the baseball industry, as far as the coaches and front offices, absolutely know who this guy is. Our players were really impacted in a positive way through Jordan. … I think Mike was huge in Jordan’s development. And Mike decided to move on, he's afforded to do that. That's part of the business. But luckily, we got Jordan.”
So who exactly is Jordan Tiegs, then? Rangers fans should be familiar with him for becoming one of the biggest drivers of Jack Leiter’s development in the Minors. But he’s been a big part of the organizational pitching structure for quite a few years.
Tiegs served as interim bullpen coach at different points in 2024, on the heels of serving in various pitching coach roles during his seven seasons in the organization. He originally joined the organization as a pitching coach at the lower levels of the Minors in 2019.
From 2022-24, Tiegs was the Rangers’ Minor League pitching coordinator, where he impacted many of the club’s top pitching prospects in their development.
“I had conversations with the young guys,” Schumaker said. “That was important to me to see what kind of relationship that he had with the young guys and with the older guys, too. It's not all about us, right? It's about what the player needs and wants and how they want to get better, and who they think can help them get better. I'm telling you his name was the No. 1 that was brought up.”
Now, at 37 years old, Tiegs completely has the reins, along with assistant pitching coach Dave Bush -- another holdover from Maddux and Bruce Bochy’s staff -- and newcomer Colby Suggs, now the bullpen coach.
The three will be charged with bringing the pitching staff back to being one of the best in baseball. That obviously won’t be easy. But the expectation has been set.
It’s Tiegs’ job to make sure every single pitcher on that staff can take the next step, whether they’re in the first few years of their career or those close to the same age as him -- like deGrom.
The day-to-day doesn’t entirely change for Tiegs. He’ll likely have a bit more communication with the starters than he did before, but everything staff-wide will stay consistent with what he’s done in previous years, with the hopes of continuing to improve in 2026.
“I don't think anyone has an easy job,” Tiegs said. “Coaching in the Major Leagues is not easy for anybody. Everyone just has a really big job to do. You start with pretty good players. Most coaches will say, ‘I'm always a better coach when I have really good players.’ It's nice to have Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi and Jack Leiter and a bunch of others.
“I don't see my relationship with a player changing based on what my title is. I know that, first and foremost, I'm here to serve them and do whatever I can to help them.”