Rudy Jaramillo stays with Texas
The Rangers have some glaring needs as the team enters the offseason. And over the next week, we are going to talk about all of them. But one area the organization doesn’t have to worry about is finding a hitting coach. Rudy Jaramillo has signed a two-year deal to stay with the team.
To understand why it was imperative the Rangers keep Jaramillo under contract, you just have to look at his results. He took over as hitting coach for Texas in 1995, and in his 13 seasons, Jaramillo has produced 4 A.L. MVP’s, 16 Silver Slugger Awards, 3 HR titles, 2 RBI titles and a batting average title.
A few years ago, Mark Teixeira had this to say: “He doesn’t try to cookie-cut your swing. He learns your swing and adapts his philosophies to your swing. At this point, Rudy knows my swing better than I do. Whenever something is not right, he’s able to adjust me mentally and physically very quickly because everything is so easy to understand.”
This from Michael Young: “Whenever I do something at the plate, I don’t feel so much that I did it, but that ‘we’ did it. He is the best and most loyal coach I’ve ever been around. He has an innate ability to know what makes players go. Having Rudy in my corner was huge. As much as I believed in myself and thought I had confidence, knowing that he believed in me too really helped. He always told me what I could do. Now it’s to the point of being second nature. But he’s still the first guy I see in the clubhouse every day and we go over my approach. We’re so much on the same page. It’s a lot of help.”
That is the type of belief that players have in Jaramillo. He has a long history of success, from superstars like Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez and Jeff Bagwell to reclamation projects like Mickey Tettleton and Lee Stevens. Even players who have been around the league with limited success, have sometimes turned into players under Jaramillo. The Rangers signed Gary Matthews Jr. to a minor league deal in 2004, and two years later Matthews was an all-star and signed a $50-million contract with the Anaheim Angels. David Dellucci, Marlon Byrd, Rod Barajas, there are plenty of examples, but players just generally hit better after spending time with Rudy Jaramillo.
I can’t begin to explain how Jaramillo does what he does, but I know he has five essential keys to help hitters: (1) rhythm, (2) see the ball, (3) separate your hands (4) stay square and (5) shift weight.
“All it is about is timing and improving your odds,” Jaramillo said. “If you put the work in and develop the muscle memory, you don’t have to think up there. You are in a good position to hit whatever is thrown. You work hard and when the game begins, it’s there for you.”
However he does it, he is going to keep doing it for the Texas Rangers. And this news should be a relief to all Rangers fans because the team came very close to losing him last week.
We are currently in the two week period following the World Series, where MLB teams can only negotitate with their own free agents. They can, however, express interest in other teams’ free agents, and the Rangers have already expressed interest in CF’s Torii Hunter and Aaron Rowand.
Tomorrow we will get into free agency and how A-Rod leaving the Yankees impacts the Texas Rangers. It does. Believe me it does. And he isn’t coming to Texas.
