Texas Rangers needed a pitching coach. They went to their bullpen to make the hire.
The Texas Rangers went to their bullpen to find their new pitching coach.
Doug Mathis, who served as bullpen coach in 2020 and was a reliever for them for parts of three seasons a decade ago, will replace Julio Rangel, sources said.
Mathis will take the reins of a pitching staff that posted a 5.02 ERA and could turn into a carousel of young pitchers in 2021.
The Rangers spoke with Mathis last week while general manager Jon Daniels was in Arizona at the Surprise Recreation Campus for the instructional league. Mathis is an Arizona native who lives in the Phoenix area.
He joined manager Chris Woodward’s staff last season after three seasons of coaching in the minors with Seattle and Toronto. Mathis pitched professionally for 11 seasons, including his only three big-league seasons with the Rangers as a reliever.
An announcement is expected next week.
The Rangers are in full rebuild mode, and at the end of the season gave several rookies their first taste of the big leagues. That will likely continue in 2021, especially in what is expected to be a normal 162-game season with a full minor-league season, too.
Rookie right-hander Kyle Cody impressed in the final six weeks of the season and is a candidate to open next season in the rotation. So is left-hander Kolby Allard, who has struggled since the Rangers acquired him as a rookie in 2019.
The Rangers have two vacancies on their coaching staff. They need a bullpen coach to replace Mathis and again could look inside the organization, and will not bring Hector Ortiz back as catching coach.
