ARLINGTON -- The Rangers have strengthened their Major League field staff and front office analytical department with a series of hires and promotions this week. The moves are part of the club's extensive year-long review of the inner workings of its baseball operations.
Advance scout Brett Hayes has been named coodinator of run prevention and Alex Burg has been hired as coordinator of run production. Both will travel with the team, giving manager Chris Woodward what amounts to a 12-man coaching staff.
Hayes served as advance scout last season after a 13-year professional career that included 189 games as a catcher at the Major League level for Marlins, Royals and Indians. In his role, he will prepare comprehensive advanced scouting reports on opposing teams and will help pitching coach Julio Rangel and bullpen coach Oscar Marin in game preparation.
Burg will help hitting coaches Luis Ortiz and Callix Crabbe on the offensive side. Burg joins the Rangers after a nine-year Minor League career as a utility player, spending 2016-17 in the Texas organization and 2018 with the Dodgers.
They join a Major League staff that also includes bench coach Don Wakamatsu, third-base coach Tony Beasley, first-base coach Hector Ortiz, field coordinator Jayce Tingler, veteran bullpen catcher Josh Frasier and video coordinator Adam Brenner.
Adam Lewkowicz, who served as director of advanced scouting last year, has been named assistant director of amateur scouting. This will be his 11th year with the Rangers and 17th in professional baseball. Hamilton Wise and Jonny Clum have also been promoted to assistants in the international scouting department. Both got their start in baseball as interns in the Rangers' front office.
Todd Slavinsky has been named senior director of baseball analytics as he goes into his 10th season with the Rangers. The former college pitcher at the University of Minnesota-Morris, who holds degrees in economics and business, oversees all aspects of baseball analytics and the organization's proprietary information and technology systems.
Ryan Murray, who has an electrical engineering degree from the University of Texas, has been promoted to director of baseball analytics. He has been focused on statistical research, game strategy and analytical player evaluations. Bobby Bandelow, who served as an advanced intern last season, will also work as a junior analyst.
The Rangers also hired Bradley Ankrom as senior developer of baseball systems and Vinesh Kanthan as junior analyst of baseball analytics. Ankrom has worked previously with the Rays, Bloomberg Sports and Baseball Prospectus and consulted for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Kanthan has spent the past two years with the Rays, with a focus on building out their Sport Science infrastructure and technology.