Rangers name Hyers hitting coach, reunite him with Woodward

ARLINGTON, Texas- The Texas Rangers named Tim Hyers their hitting coach Wednesday after he spent the past four seasons in the same role for the Boston Red Sox.

Hyers and Rangers manager Chris Woodward worked together as assistants on manager Dave Roberts’ staff with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016 and 2017.

The Dodgers were National League champions in 2017, and again in 2018, when Hyers was in his first season with the Red Sox when they beat Los Angeles for their World Series title.

The Rangers are coming off a 102-loss season and ranked 29th in the majors with a .232 team batting average. They were last with a .670 OPS and scored an AL-low 625 runs.

Over Hyers’ four seasons with the Red Sox, they led the majors in run scored (2,898), total bases (8,632), extra-base hits (1,989), batting average (.266), slugging percentage (.455) and OPS (.790).

Texas hired Donnie Ecker on Nov. 1 as its bench coach and also offensive coordinator, a role in which he will oversee the organization’s overall hitting program at both the major and minor league levels. Ecker had spent the past two seasons as a hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants.

Ecker replaced bench coach Don Wakamatsu, who was not retained after the season. The Rangers also didn’t bring back hitting instructors Luis Ortiz and Callix Crabbe.

BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles signed outfielder Aaron Hicks less than 24 hours after Cedric Mullins went down with a strained right groin.

Mullins went on the 10-day injured list, but the Orioles are hoping Hicks can help defensively in the spacious outfield at Camden Yards. Hicks was released last week by the New York Yankees with more than 2 1/2 seasons left on his contract.

“We had noticed that he was a free agent even before the injury,” Orioles general manager Mike Elias said. “When the injury occurred and it became pretty clear this was going to be an IL, it seemed like a good fit even more so at that time.”

The Orioles are responsible for paying Hicks just $483,871, a prorated share of the $720,000 minimum salary. The Yankees owe him the rest of his $10.5 million salary this year, plus $9.5 million in each of the next two seasons and a $1 million buyout of a 2026 team option.

The 33-year-old Hicks hit just .188 in 28 games for the Yankees this year.

“We have stuff that we look at from a scouting and evaluation perspective,” Elias said. “It’s very different from just looking at the back of a baseball card, and we hope that we get a bounceback from anyone we bring here.”

Hicks batted .216 last season.

“Hopefully that’s a good thing for him,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the Baltimore deal. “A lot of time here and a lot of good things happened for him here. I know the last couple of years have been a struggle. But hopefully it’s a good opportunity for him and certainly wish him well. Not too well being in our division and a team we’re chasing, but hopefully it’s a really good fit for him.”

Mullins left a loss to Cleveland after he pulled up while running out an infield grounder. Outfielder Colton Cowser – the fifth pick in the draft two years ago – is hitting .331 at Triple-A Norfolk, but he went on the IL in the past couple weeks.

“Certainly he was building a case towards promotion consideration prior to his injury and prior to Cedric’s injury,” Elias said. “We’ll just see where we’re at.”

Hicks was active for the game but not in the starting lineup. Austin Hays, normally Baltimore’s left field, was in Mullins’ usual spot in center.

When the wall in left at Camden Yards was pushed significantly back before last season, it made left field a bigger challenge defensively.

“In this park … you really need two center fielders,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Aaron’s got a lot of center-field experience. Played left field here before also. Brings the defensive aspect and then the switch-hitting.”