Schumaker joins Rangers' baseball ops as senior adviser
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The Rangers announced Wednesday that they have hired former Marlins manager Skip Schumaker as a senior adviser to president of baseball operations Chris Young.
The Rangers are also expected to finalize a deal with Luis Urueta to be their bench coach, according to a report from The Dallas Morning News' Evan Grant. Urueta is Schumaker’s former bench coach with Miami. The club has not confirmed the Urueta news.
Schumaker was the manager for the Marlins from 2023-24, earning National League Manager of the Year honors in his first season after leading Miami to an 84-78 record and a Wild Card Series appearance. He entered '24 knowing it would be his last in the organization after the Marlins parted ways with general manager Kim Ng and hired Peter Bendix as president of baseball operations.
Will Venable was a sort of heir apparent to Rangers manager Bruce Bochy over the last two seasons as he learned under the likely Hall of Famer, but Venable departed last week after being named manager of the White Sox. There’s no guarantee that Bochy retires when his contract is up at the end of the 2025 season, but Schumaker is as good of a managerial successor as any.
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Schumaker was seen as a prime managerial candidate league-wide after leaving Miami, but only two other positions opened up: the White Sox (Venable) and the Reds (Terry Francona). If Schumaker hopes to return to the dugout soon, learning under Young and Bochy is a perfect use of his time.
“I think about my two years there and the acceleration of my development really attributed to Bruce Bochy and Chris Young and Ray Davis and the things that they did,” Venable said at his White Sox introductory press conference. “It’s with that development I feel extremely confident that I’m prepared for this opportunity. I also know that without them I don’t think I would be ready for this.”
As for Urueta, Donnie Ecker is currently the offensive coordinator and bench coach for Texas, but the club did lose Venable as associate manager. The Rangers operated with both Ecker and Venable on staff over the last two seasons, but Ecker maintained much influence with the offensive approach.
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Ecker is expected to work with newly hired hitting coach Justin Veile to turn around an offensive unit that regressed mightily in 2024, while Urueta fulfills many of the duties Venable undertook.
“We have big shoes to fill,” Young said going into the GM Meetings.