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Perhaps the No. 1 trait the new hitting coach for the Texas Rangers must have is a desire to teach a group of mostly inexperienced players how to be successful in the major leagues.
It’s a task that four finalists want to tackle.Rangers Hall of Famer Rusty Greer and former big-league hitting coaches Thad Bosley, Clint Hurdle and Gerald Perry were announced Thursday as finalists to replace longtime instructor Rudy Jaramillo.The Rangers will conduct interviews Monday and make a decision later in the week."We’ve had a chance to talk to a lot of good baseball people this week and heard a lot of good ideas," general manager Jon Daniels said. "I look at this as a rare chance to continue, and, at the same time, improve upon what we do offensively."Daniels and manager Ron Washington want the new hitting coach to preach situational hitting, something that a lineup filled mostly by players in their first and second full big-league seasons struggled with in 2009.The Rangers also led the league in strikeouts while seeing their walks total dip. A turnaround is needed next season, and so is a new hitting coach after Jaramillo turned down a one-year offer and signed with the Chicago Cubs.Hurdle, who most recently served as the manager in Colorado before being fired in May, said his time away from the game reminded him how much he enjoys teaching various aspects of the game."One of the passions that I was able to revisit in being removed from the game is there was no teaching going on," Hurdle said. "I’ve had a passion for that throughout my coaching career."For Bosley, a season as the head coach at Bethany University in California has allowed him to learn more about the game while also giving him the chance to work with a group of young hitters who probably won’t develop into major leaguers.He has ample experience with young players from his time in Oakland from 1998 to 2003. Among his pupils were Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada and Eric Chavez. They experienced the same struggles and slumps that hit Chris Davis, Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz in 2009."You have to come up with a plan to help them succeed," said Bosley, who spent his final two seasons as a player in the Rangers’ organization in 1989-90. "You have to help them understand how to hit at the major-league level, and how to complete and play the game the right way."Daniels and Washington will conduct the interviews along with assistant GM Thad Levine and director of player development Scott Servais.Washington knows the finalists well. He coached Greer in the Arizona Fall League in 1993; worked with Bosley and Perry as assistants in Oakland; and Hurdle was the manager and Washington the third-base coach for Triple A Tidewater in 1992.Hurdle, who was the Rockies’ hitting coach from 1997 to 2002, also knows Daniels, Levine and Servais from their time with the Rockies.Perry most recently was the Cubs’ hitting coach this season, but he was fired in June.Greer is one of the most popular players in franchise history and a key factor in the Rangers’ three playoff runs in the late 1990s. While he has no experience as a hitting coach on the professional level, Greer has spent the past few years working with hitters at Texas Wesleyan and also helped hitters who played in the Texas Collegiate League.Catcher signs dealKevin Richardson was signed to a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training. He made his major-league debut in August, but was outrighted off the 40-man roster last week.Jeff Wilson, 817-390-7760
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