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Rangers Hire Travis Jankowski As First Base Coach

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The Rangers announced a few coaching staff hirings this afternoon. Most notably, they’ve named Travis Jankowski their first base coach. That suggests the 34-year-old is retiring after a playing career that spanned parts of 11 big league campaigns.

Jankowski carved out a solid career as a speed and defense depth outfielder. He played in more than 700 MLB contests and tallied nearly 1800 trips to the plate. The lefty batter hit .236/.318/.305 with 366 knocks and 104 stolen bases. Jankowski had very little power and only connected on 11 home runs, but he collected 54 doubles and 10 triples. He drove in 98 runs and scored 220 times.

A former supplemental first-round pick of the Padres, Jankowski spent the first five seasons of his career in San Diego. He’d go on to play for eight teams overall, including the 2023-24 campaigns in Arlington. Jankowski’s best season came in 2023. He had a personal-best .263 average while reaching base at a strong .357 clip for the World Series team. Jankowski picked up another three hits and a pair of RBI in nine postseason at-bats. His numbers tailed off the following season, and he apparently concluded his playing career with 25 games split between the White Sox, Rays and Mets this year.

Jankowski is a known commodity to the Texas front office. While his time as a player in Texas came under Bruce Bochy, he also has ties to new manager Skip Schumaker. The Rangers skipper was the first base coach in San Diego for Jankowski’s final two seasons as a Padre in 2018-19. Jankowski now takes on that role in Arlington, where he’ll presumably also be involved in outfield and basestealing instruction.

Texas also confirmed the previously reported hiring of Alex Cintrón as assistant hitting coach. They’ve added Rod Barajas as a quality control coach, a move that was first announced last week by Rocket City Trash Pandas broadcaster Chris Harris. Barajas coached for that affiliate, the Angels’ Double-A team, in 2025. He has previously spent time on the Padres and Marlins big league staffs with Schumaker.

The Rangers also hired Colby Suggs as bullpen coach. (Dan Hayes of The Athletic had reported last week that the 34-year-old Suggs was likely to take a job in Texas.) He’d held the same role with the Twins since the middle of the 2022 season.

Suggs takes over the bullpen coach role from Jordan Tiegs, who gets a promotion to pitching coach. The 38-year-old was a longtime minor league pitching instructor in the Texas system before getting his first MLB coaching opportunity this past season. The Rangers lost veteran pitching coach Mike Maddux to the Angels, and they’re staying internal with the much younger Tiegs to fill that position.

There are a more few role changes among the holdovers from Bochy’s final coaching staff. Justin Viele is now the lead hitting coach after splitting that job with Bret Boone this year. Texas had already announced that Corey Ragsdale would move from first base to third base coach. Brett Hayes moves from quality control coach to catching coach. Bench coach Luis Urueta and assistant pitching coach Dave Bush are back in the same roles. Texas will make one additional hire in a yet to be determined role to round out the staff.

Coaching Notes: Leiper, Weeks, Rangers, Twins

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With so many new managers taking over this season, it’s no surprise we’ve seen plenty of coaching staff turnover. Changes have been trickling in this week. Here are some quick highlights…

  • The Mets are expected to hire Tim Leiper as their third base coach, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Leiper has spent nearly three decades as a coach at various levels. He most recently served as the Padres’ third base coach, a role he has held since 2024. Leiper would be taking over for Mike Sarbaugh, who was not brought back after the season.
  • Rickie Weeks is changing roles with the Brewers, reports Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. After serving as associate manager for the past two seasons, Weeks will move to the front office as a special assistant to the general manager. Weeks was drafted by the Brewers with the second overall pick in 2003. He spent 11 of his 14 big-league seasons with the team. Weeks returned to Milwaukee in 2022 as an assistant to player development. The Brewers will not be hiring a new associate manager, notes Hogg.
  • The Rangers are in the process of filling out new manager Skip Schumaker’s staff. The club is expected to add Alex Cintron as an assistant hitting coach, reports Michael Schwab. Cintron has been a hitting coach with the Astros since 2019. Texas has also expressed interest in Twins’ bullpen coach Colby Suggs, reports Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Suggs seems to be on the market, with Minnesota expected to hire LaTroy Hawkins for the bullpen coach position.
  • More from Minnesota, as new manager Derek Shelton continues to put his staff together. Hayes reported that Hank Conger will not be returning next season. Conger joined the Twins in 2022 as first base coach. After three seasons in the role, he served as assistant bench coach in 2025. Minnesota is also slated to lose bench coach Jayce Tingler, who is expected to join San Francisco’s staff in some capacity.

Twins To Hire LaTroy Hawkins As Bullpen Coach

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The Twins are expected to bring on former reliever LaTroy Hawkins as bullpen coach, reports Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune, among others. Hawkins has been a special assistant in the organization since 2016. He’s also worked on the Twins’ broadcast team.

Hawkins is no stranger to Minnesota’s bullpen. He pitched for 11 teams over his 21-year career, but his longest tenure was with the Twins. Minnesota drafted Hawkins in 1991. He debuted for the team as a 22-year-old in 1995. Hawkins spent five seasons as a starter with the Twins before moving to the bullpen, where he would be a fixture through 2003.

Hawkins wrapped up his lengthy playing career with the Blue Jays in 2015. He finished with 127 saves across 1,042 appearances. Hawkins returned to Minnesota after that season, this time in a front office role. He doesn’t have any MLB coaching experience, but did coach for the Brazilian National Team in 2017 and 2023. Hawkins also managed the American League team at the 2021 Futures Game.

Minnesota has yet to announce the hiring. Hawkins would be taking over for Colby Suggs, who has served as bullpen coach since 2022. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports that the Rangers have expressed interest in adding Suggs to their coaching staff. Suggs has worked in the Twins’ organization since 2019.

Twins Name Pete Maki Pitching Coach

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The Twins announced Friday that they’ve promoted bullpen coach Pete Maki to the position of pitching coach. Maki’s move up the coaching ladder comes on the heels of former pitching coach Wes Johnson’s surprising midseason departure. Johnson will reportedly receive a raise and can earn up to $750K to serve as the pitching coach at Louisiana State University — a position that will require far less travel over a shorter season and allow Johnson to spend more time with his young family. Minnesota also promoted Colby Suggs, previously an advance scout and the team’s coordinator of run prevention, to Maki’s former role of bullpen coach.

Maki, 39, has been with the Twins since 2018 — first serving as the organization’s minor league pitching coordinator before taking on the role of bullpen beginning in 2019. He’s a familiar voice for the staff to work with, though Johnson’s departure is still a notable loss, given his reputation around the game and his popularity within the clubhouse. Prior to working with the Twins, Maki (like Johnson and Suggs) coached in the college ranks, most recently as the pitching coach at Duke from 2015-17.

Suggs, still just 30 years old, was the No. 73 overall pick by the Marlins in 2013 but hasn’t pitched professionally since 2016. He launched his coaching career with the Arkansas Razorbacks, spending 2018 as the bullpen coach alongside none other than Johnson, who was the pitching coach at Arkansas prior to being hired by the Twins.

Johnson’s departure for an NCAA position may still strike some as strange, but R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports recently suggested that it could be the beginning of a trend both in the coaching and scouting ranks (Twitter thread). Colleges tend to offer larger salaries, more limited travel and greater control for coaches, Anderson observes, adding that Johnson’s situation may not ultimately prove to be unique.

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