While the Rangers' big-league coaching staff has been finalized for weeks, the full organizational staff was finalized last Thursday with a few new faces and several key promotions for one of the top systems in baseball.
According to a release from the club, the Texas organization features several new assignments in 2016, including Corey Ragsdale as Field Coordinator. Ragsdale, who guided Low-A Hickory to a South Atlantic League championship in 2015, spent five seasons as a coach or manager in the farm system following a playing career that ended with the Texas organization. Jeff Andrews has been promoted to Assistant Pitching Coordinator after seven seasons as the pitching coach at Double-A Frisco. Former AZL Rangers manager Kenny Holmberg has been promoted to a roving instructor role as the club’s infield coordinator.
Two new hires will be among the managerial changes in the farm system for 2016. After guiding High Desert to the postseason in his first season as a manager, Spike Owen will take the managerial reigns of defending South Atlantic League champion Hickory. Matt Siegel joins the Rangers from the University of Arizona and will manage the AZL Rangers. Siegel, a freshman All-American at the University of Florida in 1998, also spent three seasons as an assistant on the TCU coaching staff.
Also, remember Guilder Rodriguez? Sure you do. He was one of the few bright spots of a forgettable 2014 season as a career minor-leaguer who finally made his big-league debut well into his 30s in September and got a hit in his first at-bat and also had an RBI in that game with his family in attendance. Now, Rodriguez will make his debut as a coach as he'll be on the staff of the Rangers' Dominican Summer League team.
