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 -- Travis Jankowski’s first big league Spring Training was in 2016 with the Padres, who had selected him in the first round of the 2012 MLB Draft out of Stony Brook.
That spring, a 36-year-old Skip Schumaker was in that same camp on a Minor League deal, hoping to extend his career as long as it would go.
“I was the young pup and Skip was a veteran,” Jankowski said via Zoom. “The one thing that I still tell people to this day is that Skip taught me how to be a professional. He taught me what work looks like, what it looks like to get ready for Spring Training, and how to carry yourself and go about your business on a daily basis as a professional.”
Jankowski and Schumaker were competing for the Padres’ final bench spots under manager Andy Green that season. They were grouped up for baserunning drills, outfield situations and everything in between, and the days of spring dragged on.
“I got to know him pretty well there,” Schumaker recalled. “Then I retired, or quit, however you want to play it out. But that's kind of what happened.”
That spring, after retiring or quitting or whatever, Schumaker went on to become a special advisor for player development for the Padres, roving around the Minor League affiliates and kicking off his post-playing career in the San Diego system.
The last decade has been different for the two, with Schumaker climbing the ranks of MLB coaching while Jankowski played out the rest of his career after virtually taking his job back in 2016.
Jankowski played for the Rangers in 2023-24, helping them to the first World Series title in franchise history in his first year before wandering around the waiver wire in ‘25. Jankowski’s final MLB game came on July 8 of this season with the Mets, concluding an 11-year career with eight teams.
Now, the two will reunite -- Schumaker as the Rangers’ manager and Jankowski as his first-base coach for 2026.
“Travis is one of my favorite teammates and players I've ever coached, just because of the man he is and what he represents,” Schumaker said. “I've always thought, in the back of my head, when Travis does decide to retire, he would be an incredibly impactful coach, because of how he sees relationships and how he sees the game. There's a lot of built-in relationships that I'm excited for him to have and really jump-start his career with a lot of the guys that he won a World Series with.”
Jankowski said the idea of coaching first entered his mind back in 2021, when he was at the Phillies’ alternate site. Then a multiyear big league veteran, he took it upon himself to mentor some of the outfielders in the upper Minors like Mickey Moniak and Nick Maton.
Though his career would go on for a few more years, it hit him that he could be good at coaching in his own post-playing career. After all, people had told him he had a great personality for it.
“This opportunity came up, and I realized this might be what I've been praying for and hoping to make crystal clear in the offseason to know if I should keep playing or not,” Jankowski said.
He’ll get the chance, first and foremost, because of who Schumaker is.
Since that Spring Training in 2016 with the Padres, the two have maintained a close relationship, or as close to it as you can get when you’re both dealing with the grind of 162 games. But when Schumaker asked him if he was serious about coaching, Jankowski had to truly think about if he was done playing in the big leagues.
In 2025, Jankowski appeared in 14 games for the Rays, seven for the White Sox and four for the Mets, along with a handful of Minor League games along the way. That wasn’t exactly a grind he wanted to go through again. He did the Minor League climb once as a young player. It’s much different with a wife and kids.
So he interviewed for the Rangers job, eager to reunite with Schumaker.
“His intensity sticks out. He’s a very intense guy with his eagerness to win,” Jankowski said. “I don't know if Skip cares about many other things in life -- besides probably his family -- more than just winning games and creating a winning culture. The intensity, the professionalism, the attention to detail. The comfort level is there. I'm excited. I know I've got some really good people who really care about winning to help me out as I get into this.”
Jankowski was hesitant at first. That’s natural for somebody who was in the clubhouse as a player barely even a year ago. That hurdle became one of the driving forces towards his acceptance of the job.
Would these guys respect him? Would they see him as a voice of authority, as a coach?
“I’m only 34 years old, but it hit me,” Jankowski said. “That respect was won in 2023 and ‘24. They saw my work ethic. They saw me help Evan [Carter] out in ‘23, help Wyatt [Langford] out in ‘24. These are the guys who are taking my job. If they can see me willing to help these younger guys who are nipping at my heels, taking playing time away from me, I gotta imagine that their respect is going to be there from an entire clubhouse.”
Jankowski admitted that he may have to lean on Schumaker or third-base coach Corey Ragsdale at points throughout the year. He’s not ignorant to the fact that he’s not even a year removed from being a player.
They’re all excited for the opportunity, though. But Schumaker made one thing clear.
“I’m not calling him El Blondi,” Schumaker said of Jankowski’s cult hero nickname he acquired after filling in for Adolis García in Games 4-5 of the 2023 World Series. “I don’t know what that whole thing is. You guys can call him that. I refuse to call him that.”