The Rangers rank dead last in the American League with 113 runs scored Last week Texas Rangers GM Chris Young sounded like an executive losing patience with his struggling offense, and he has begun to shake up his roster. First baseman Jake Burger was optioned to Triple-A on Friday, then, on Sunday, offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker was fired and center fielder Leody Taveras was placed on outright waivers, reports The Athletic. “After lengthy discussions and deliberations, we feel now is the appropriate time to provide our hitters with a new voice as we pursue goals of winning the division and reaching the postseason,” Young said in a statement about the Ecker firing.
“We are tremendously appreciative to Donnie for everything he has accomplished here with the Rangers, including his involvement in the team’s 2023 World Series win. “We wish him the best.” Ecker was appointed as the team’s bench coach and offensive coordinator in November of 2001. He filled those tasks from 2022 to 2024 when the team relieved him of bench coaching duties in 2025 and directed him to focus on offense. Despite scoring eight runs in Sunday’s triumph (TEX 8, SEA 1), the Rangers are 29th in terms of runs scored this season with 113. Only the Colorado Rockies have scored less (106).
The Rangers announced on Monday that they had hired Bret Boone, a three-time All-Star and brother of Yankees manager Aaron Boone, as their new hitting coach. Taveras, 26, is hitting.241/.259/.342 this season and has recently lost playing time to Dustin Harris and Kevin Pillar. He has only started four of the team’s last ten games. Taveras is earning $4.75 million this season. Any team that claims him on waivers will assume the rest of his pay. If Taveras clears waivers, he will be assigned to Triple-A. The Rangers scored more than two runs for the second time in their past ten games on Sunday. Texas has scored four or more runs in a single game only 13 times this season. Only the Rockies (10) and Chicago White Sox (11) have done this less frequently. When your goal is to win the World Series, you don’t want to stick with that firm. Young believed it was time to start making changes. “My hope is that soon, all of our guys are at their best together,” Young stated last week (via MLB.com). “If that happens, we’ll be a great team.” But the reality is that we are not right now, therefore we must begin to effect change in order to field a successful team.” Despite their dearth of offense, the Rangers are 17-18 following Sunday’s victory. They haven’t dug themselves a big hole in the standings yet. Clearly, Young does not want to simply wait for his offense to get its act together. He’s making changes to get the squad back on track before they fall behind in the AL West.
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