Rangers tab Viele as new hitting coach

ARLINGTON -- The San Francisco to Texas pipeline continues.

The Rangers are hiring Giants co-hitting coach Justin Viele as hitting coach, the club announced on Monday. Viele worked with Texas offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker in San Francisco from 2020-21.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy notably managed the Giants to three World Series titles in the 2010s, and was an advisor in the front office during his brief retirement from 2020-22.

Viele is set to replace former Rangers hitting coach Tim Hyers, who left to take the same position with his hometown Atlanta Braves on Oct. 24. Assistant hitting coach Seth Connor will remain in Texas with Ecker.

“Justin has a track record as a very successful coach in San Francisco, obviously a working relationship with Donnie Ecker, and we're extremely excited to bring him into the organization,” said president of baseball operations Chris Young. “Hopefully he can build on what Tim and Donnie created, and we’re very confident in the relationship that Justin and Donnie have to continue our path forward and get the best out of our players and our offense moving forward.”

Young said that the Rangers interviewed a number of internal candidates, all of whom interviewed well, but Viele’s experience and existing relationship with Ecker set him apart from the group, hopefully setting him and the club up for future success.

Under Hyers, Ecker and Connor, the Rangers won the inaugural team AL Silver Slugger Award in 2023. Texas’ 881 runs scored were the most in the AL, and the club slashed .263/.337/.452 with a 114 wRC+. It rightfully led to the first World Series in franchise history.

But the Rangers struggled to repeat that success in 2024, when Texas ranked 23rd in OPS in 2024 (.685) and several key contributors such as Adolis García and Jonah Heim regressed following All-Star nods for each in ‘23.

Despite those struggles and failing to make the postseason in 2024, both Bochy and Young praised the trio of Hyers, Ecker and Connor, and they still expect a bounceback going into 2025.

Viele will be part of that turnaround now.

Alongside Ecker, Viele led the Giants from a .239/.302/.392 slash line in 2019 to .249/.329/.440 in 2021, when the club won the National League West with 107 wins. San Francisco’s 241 home runs that season were a franchise record.

The Rangers still need to hire a replacement for associate manager Will Venable, who was recently named manager of the Chicago White Sox.

“We have big shoes to fill, and we're looking at a number of different ways to do that, whether it's somebody in a similar fashion, or we divide up the responsibilities internally amongst the great coaching staff that we have,” Young said. “So we're considering several different paths here. We're working through it. We don't have an answer at this point, but it's a high priority for us over the next couple weeks here to get some resolution there.”