The Texas Rangers aren’t sitting around waiting for their bats to wake up. Amid a sluggish start for their recent World Series-winning offense, the club fired offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker on Sunday and placed struggling center fielder Leody Taveras on outright waivers.
As Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports, both moves came just hours after an 8-1 win over Seattle—a rare offensive outburst for a lineup that’s predominantly been stuck in neutral through the season’s first five weeks.
Texas has scored just 113 runs in 35 games—ranking 29th in MLB, ahead of only the punchless Rockies. They’ve topped three runs only twice in their last 12 games, and the cracks that started showing in April have now become unavoidable fissures.
Rangers Manager Bruce Bochy took over after the 2022 season and walked into a 2023 team that had tremendous offensive output. Nearly every regular had a standout year at the plate, with Corey Seager and Marcus Semien finishing second and third in MVP voting. The lineup was so loaded, five Rangers were named starters in the All-Star Game. What a difference two years makes.
“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,” Rangers general manager Chris Young said in a statement announcing Ecker’s firing. “We are extremely grateful to Donnie for all that he has accomplished here with the Rangers, including his role in the club’s 2023 World Series championship. We wish him the best.”
As Rangers Offense Sputtered, Patience Wore Thin
Ecker had been with the organization since 2021, originally hired as both bench coach and offensive coordinator. He shifted to a full-time hitting role in 2025, but with the lineup failing to spark, his tenure ends less than a year removed from a championship parade.
The decision to move on from Ecker wasn’t the only shake-up. Texas also placed 26-year-old Leody Taveras on waivers after the switch-hitting outfielder lost his grip on the everyday center field job. He’s hitting .241 with a .259 OBP and .601 OPS, and has started just four of the team’s last 10 games. Kevin Pillar and Dustin Harris have started to absorb his innings.
Taveras is in the first year of a $4.75 million deal. If he’s claimed, the new team would inherit the remainder of that contract. If not, he’ll either report to Triple-A or elect free agency and forfeit the deal entirely. It’s a tough fall for a player who hit .266 with a .733 OPS during the team’s title run last season.
These latest moves come just days after first baseman Jake Burger, another struggling bat, was optioned to Triple-A. While the Rangers remain in the thick of the AL West race at 17-18, Young appears increasingly unwilling to wait for things to turn around on their own.
Time will tell if these jolts are enough to revive a sleeping offense—or just the beginning of a longer purge.
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