Magadan Named Rangers Hitting Coach

Per John Blake on Twitter, the Rangers have hired Dave Magadan as their major league hitting coach.

Magadan is a former player who was a 2nd round draft pick of the New York Mets in 1983. Magadan spent his career as a corner infielder who was mainly known for his on-base skills. Magadan carved out a 16 year major league career despite having little power, as he hit only 42 homers in 4963 career plate appearances, while putting up a career .288/.390/.377 line.

Magadan was in the Padres organization as a hitting coach from 2002-06, serving in that role with the major league team from 2003-06. Magadan has been the hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox since 2007.

One of the things mentioned on Twitter is that Boston's hitters have seen more pitchers per plate appearance during the six years Magadan has been their hitting coach than any other team in baseball. Given the concerns that have been expressed about the Rangers' hitters' approach (or lack thereof) at the plate, I suspect that that was a selling point for the Rangers.

The Rangers' hitting coach position has been something of a revolving door of late, with Rudy Jaramillo being replaced by Clint Hurdle after Jaramillo left after the 2009 season. Hurdle spent one year as hitting coach, in 2010, before leaving to become the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hurdle was replaced by Thad Bosley, but Bosley was fired in 2011, with Scott Coolbaugh being promoted from the AAA hitting coach job to take over mid-season.

Magadan is now replacing Coolbaugh.