The Rangers have finished filling out their hitting staff, and the newest name in the room is Tommy Joseph.
Texas announced Wednesday that Joseph has been hired as the club’s Major League hitting coach. He’ll work alongside lead hitting coach Justin Viele, with Eric Dorton remaining as an assistant hitting coach. Earlier this month, the Rangers said assistant hitting coach Alex Cintron was shifting into a different role in the organization and would be listed as an MLB hitting coach.
Joseph arrives with a fairly short but relevant coaching résumé. He spent 2024 as an assistant hitting coach with the Seattle Mariners and 2025 in the same role with the Baltimore Orioles. Before that, he worked as a minor league hitting coach with both the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants.
The fit in Texas goes beyond the coaching title. The Rangers are trying to shape a lineup that can do more than one thing at the plate, and they want that group to be patient. Joseph has already been part of staffs that emphasized that approach in Seattle and Baltimore.
That matters because both of those clubs were among the American League’s best in pitches per at-bat, a useful marker for how patient a lineup can be. The Mariners led the league in 2024 at 4.00 pitches per at-bat. The Orioles were fifth in 2025 at 3.92 pitches per at-bat.
Texas also wants hitters who can grind down pitchers and stay away from chase swings, and Joseph’s background suggests he can help in that area too.
There’s also the player side of the equation, which should help with credibility in the room. Joseph was a second-round pick by the Giants in the 2009 MLB draft, then played in the majors with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2016 and 2017. In 249 career games, he hit .247 with 43 home runs and 116 RBI.
He also spent time in the Rangers system as a player, appearing for Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock in 2018. In those stops, he hit .284/.351/.533 with 21 home runs and 70 RBI. His playing career ended in 2020.
The timing of the hire matters for a Texas offense that improved in 2026 but still didn’t get back to its 2023 level, the year the Rangers won the World Series. The club finished 80-82 and one game behind the Houston Astros in the American League West, and now it’s hoping Joseph can bring something to the hitting room that was missing a year ago.
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