Texas Rangers Dismiss Coaches Julio Rangel, Héctor Ortiz After Challenging 2020 Season

The Texas Rangers have informed pitching coach Julio Rangel and catching coach Héctor Ortiz that they will not be on the Major League coaching staff in 2021.

As the Texas Rangers decompress the 2020 season that will hopefully be an anomaly (all thanks to a global pandemic), it's caused them to make some changes to the coaching staff.

On Tuesday, the Rangers informed pitching coach Julio Rangel that his contract will not be renewed by the team for 2021, according to a team source.

The club has also informed catching coach Héctor Ortiz that he will not be part of the Major League coaching staff in 2021. Per the team source, Ortiz has been offered a position in the Rangers’ minor league system but has yet to make a final decision.

The Rangers hired Rangel in November 2018, hoping his background in player development and his use of analytics would pay off on the mound. While his first job on a Major League coaching staff went well in 2019, generating two Cy Young candidates in Mike Minor and Lance Lynn, the same cannot be said in 2020.

The Rangers had a team ERA of 5.02, which was good enough for 23rd in all of baseball. Their 1.38 WHIP (21st) and 8.5 strikeouts-per-nine-innings (T-24th) were also alarming numbers. Ultimately, the drop off with Mike Minor and subpar performances by newcomers Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles rounded out quite a terrible year for the Texas rotation. 

No further explanation has been given by the team of why the decisions were made to let go of Rangel and Ortiz. 

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