{"id":358220,"date":"2025-12-19T11:47:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T11:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/358220\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:47:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T11:47:11","slug":"justin-viele-is-the-man-charged-with-putting-the-rangers-offense-back-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/358220\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Viele is the man charged with putting the Rangers\u2019 offense back together"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON – On Friday, the Rangers<\/a> gathered their newly-constructed coaching staff<\/a> as a group for the first time. Some interesting stories among the newcomers.<\/p>\n

Rod Barajas, who played so well as a non-roster catcher in the spring of 2004, the Rangers spun off veteran Einar Diaz for a tall, surprisingly soft-throwing right-hander. Guy named Chris Young<\/a>. Travis Jankowski is back, too, having retired as a player only a couple of months ago. And Alex Cintr\u00f3n, who knows all the Astros offensive secrets from his years on the staff in Houston, has crossed the Silver Boot line to join the Rangers. <\/p>\n

But, for all that, the most pressing story is about one of the holdovers: Justin Viele. He\u2019s the guy charged with putting the offense back together. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s no small task. There are children still having night terrors after being exposed to that offense. <\/p>\n

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When the Rangers weren\u2019t hacking and chasing, they were inexplicably standing and watching. When they needed to be patient, they were antsy. When they needed to be aggressive, they were strangely passive. They were supposed to slug; they didn\u2019t. Viele, as co-hitting coach to two different co-hitting coaches over the course of the year, had the unfortunate best – or worst – seat in the house.<\/p>\n

The Rangers ranked 27th in on-base percentage in a 30-team league. In slugging, which was supposed to be their strong point, they were better; they ranked 26. It was the most frustrating offense to watch since Arlington Stadium closed down. <\/p>\n

So, Justin, what\u2019s the plan?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s still strength-based,\u201d Viele said and he was talking about skills, not physical strength. \u201cIt\u2019s still about being a multi-dimensional offense. We can\u2019t expect, for example, Josh Jung<\/a> and Jake Burger<\/a> to all of a sudden have walk rates of 10%. We need them to be really good at what they are really good at. We need the other guys that are on-base guys, to get on base. But you aren\u2019t going to turn everybody into an on-base guy. It\u2019s not fair to them. They feel their best when they are aggressive hitters. We want our hitters to be good at what they are really good at.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting that Viele started with Jung and Burger, because that\u2019s where the Rangers can and need to make their biggest leaps. No, they aren\u2019t going to walk 10% of the time, but they have to walk a little bit more than 3.1% for Burger, which was the third-worst in the majors (minimum 300 plate appearances) and 5.2% for Jung, which was 241st of 277. <\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the thing, being a little more discriminate at the plate should improve their walk rates slightly, but should improve their slugging percentages significantly. <\/p>\n

Jung has to stop chasing up and down as much as he did in 2025. The Rangers can live with him chasing more side to side, which is more in his hot zone. Burger can chase high pitches – and crush them. But he can\u2019t chase in three other directions, too. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s maybe just him zeroing in a little bit more on his approach to be like, \u2018Okay, I\u2019m dialed in at the top of the zone; I\u2019m okay if I chase a little bit above\u2019,\u201d Viele said. \u201cIf they are disciplined in their approach, looking in the areas where they get the most return, they are impacting the baseball. Their OPS is going to be more influenced by slug than OBP.\u201d <\/p>\n

Seems sensible enough. Seemed sensible enough when it was discussed last season, but let\u2019s face it, 2025 was a mess. It became clear in spring training to team officials that the Rangers weren\u2019t impacting the baseball, the way they\u2019d like. Perhaps that led to a little panic among both players and staff. A month into the season, the Rangers were making changes in the hitting department. Along the way, both Burger and Jung endured unexpected demotions. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was just kind of an odd year,\u201d Viele said. \u201cThere were a lot of changes. In spring training, I don\u2019t think anyone was performing the way they wanted. So guys were a little bit panicked going into the season because they weren\u2019t getting the numbers in spring. That bled into the beginning of the season. And when you\u2019re playing catch, it\u2019s really hard and really stressful. Everyone\u2019s playing hero ball in the box.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Burger\u2019s defense, he may have felt extra pressure. New guy. Brought in to slug. Didn\u2019t slug. Dealt with injuries. Spent more than half the season trying to recover from the awful start, only digging the hole deeper. For that matter, Jung was finally healthy and may have felt something to prove, and only did himself more harm than good with his swing-at-all-costs approach. Either way, it\u2019s a performance-based game. The Rangers just proved this offseason that one year of sub-par performance requires attention; two requires separation. <\/p>\n

To that end, Viele has already been at work with Jung and Burger. He\u2019s talked with Jung at length and spent time hitting with Burger last week in Arlington. In January, he will start hitting with Joc Pederson in Arizona \u201cfour or five times a week.\u201d Pederson, who had the worst year of his career, is another guy who must step up. Viele has a relationship with him dating back to 2022 when both were with San Francisco. <\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing Joc, the competitor that he is, he was not happy with the way he performed,\u201d Viele said. \u201cI think he\u2019s excited to get to work. He\u2019s got a chip on his shoulder, and Joc, with a chip on his shoulder, that can be a special thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rangers don\u2019t need guys to work towards having their own special seasons. They need guys to work towards contributing in their areas of strength. If that happens, then the offense, as a whole, can have a special season. And that would be more interesting than any other story on the coaching staff.<\/p>\n

Former Rangers reliever Shawn Armstrong agrees to deal with Guardians, report says<\/a>Wyatt Langford, Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi among Rangers\u2019 2025 team award recipients<\/a><\/p>\n

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