Will Smith Knows Rangers Manager Bruce Bochy Well

The Texas Rangers signed the former San Francisco Giants reliever to a one-year deal, reuniting him with Bruce Bochy.

Want to know more about Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy? Ask Will Smith.

The newly-signed reliever played for Bochy in San Francisco 2016, and again from 2018-19. In those last two seasons, Smith evolved into Bochy’s closer, with 14 saves in 2018 and 34 saves in 2019.

Bochy stepped away from the game after 2019 and Smith moved on to Atlanta. Two years later, Smith had a World Series ring with the Braves.

Last year, he claimed another one with the Houston Astros.

“I’m amazed he was still out there,” Bochy said.

Smith wasn’t pursuing a reunion with his old manager. In fact, Smith said he tends to talk to his agent about once a month.

But things landed in this direction, and Smith was more than happy to sign with Texas. In fact, it’s not just his former manager he’s reuniting with. His former Royals teammate, Danny Duffy, is with the Rangers, too.

“Actually (Duffy) was the first guy I saw after I got to the hotel,” Smith said. “I pull up to the parking lot and here comes Duffy and I’m like, ‘You gotta be kidding me.’”

Smith opened up about Bochy’s managerial style on Saturday, the same day he threw his first bullpen with the team.

One thing he knows he’s getting with Bochy is honesty and directness. Bochy’s door is open. You can talk to him. You can let him know what you need as a player, Smith said.

For instance, there were times in San Francisco and Smith would tell Bochy that he needed some work that day and he would get it. Other days, after throwing three days in a row, Bochy would come to him and tell him to grab a bat and watch the game that day.

“As long as you’re honest with him he’ll be honest with you,” Smith said.

Bochy also leaves the locker room alone, generally speaking. Smith said he allows the players to manage that themselves, unless he’s needed.

But the door is always open.

“You’ve got to respect his decisions and he respects yours,” Smith said.

Finally, the reliever called Bochy “old-school.” Bochy has talked about his respect for analytics, that he’ll use them as a tool but will use his gut to make decisions at times.

Smith said he did the same thing in San Francisco and that Bochy owns those decisions, whether they work out or not.

“It’s refreshing to have a guy that trusts his gut sometimes, and sometimes it doesn’t go his way but he can live with it and he’ll answer the questions about the why and go from there,” Smith said.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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