Rangers Reportedly to Hire Double-A Pitching Coach
The Texas Rangers continued to put together their organizational pitching staff, as The Dallas Morning News reported Josh Zeid is being hired as Double-A pitching coach at Frisco.
The Rangers have not officially announced the hiring.
Since his retirement in 2019, Zeid has been the Chicago Cubs’ rehab pitching coordinator and its player development pitching analyst. He also ran the club’s pitch lab in Arizona, which focuses on pitchers’ biomechanics. The Morning News reported that the Rangers are adding a pitch lab to their facility in Surprise, Ariz.
This would be the first time Zeid has served as a pitching coach for a minor-league club.
Zeid, who played college baseball at Tulane, played a decade of pro baseball, but only made it to the Majors in the 2013 and 2014 seasons with the Houston Astros. He pitched in a combined 48 games as a reliever with a 5.21 ERA, throwing 48 1/3 innings and striking out 42.
Zeid has played internationally for Israel in the 2017 World Baseball Classic and the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were pushed back to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He is set to be Israel’s pitching coach for the 2023 WBC, a team to be managed by Rangers Hall of Famer Ian Kinsler.
The Rangers are remaking their pitching coaching staff this offseason after letting go of its Major League, Triple-A and Double-A pitching coaches.
The Rangers hired Mike Maddux, who was the Rangers’ pitching coach from 2009-15, in November. The Rangers still need a Triple-A pitching coach.
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