works intimately with him on his swing daily<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cWe fight all the time,\u201d Dur\u00e1n said with a smile. \u201cEvery day. Sometimes I\u2019ll get a base hit and he\u2019ll tell me what I have to fix. And I\u2019ll be like \u2018but I got a base hit.\u2019 But he doesn\u2019t want me to get in any bad habits.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
Cintr\u00f3n needed only one name to make his point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt used to be like that with Yordan,\u201d Cintr\u00f3n said, and make no mistake, the Yordan he\u2019s referencing is Alvarez. \u201cYordan loved it. He still calls and tells me that\u2019s what he misses most. When they fix something, they can be superstars. So, yeah, we fight. We argue over it. But I want the best for him. And you can\u2019t get too comfortable. Making adjustments in this game is such a big part. And I want him to take every at-bat seriously. If it\u2019s wrong, we\u2019ve got to go back to the cage and fix it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Texas]()
<\/p>\n
Texas Rangers third baseman Ezequiel Duran (20) homers during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants at Globe Life Field on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026, in Arlington.<\/p>\n
El\u00edas Valverde II\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
The fix began over the winter. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Dur\u00e1n\u2019s ability, athleticism, and versatility were never the problem. His bat was.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When he got to Aguilas, shortly after he finished the 2025 season with no home runs and the 10th lowest OPS (.559) among 348 batters with at least 200 plate appearances over the season, Ureta sat down with him. \u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition to reinforcing Schumaker\u2019s message of fresh starts, Ureta added his own. He told Dur\u00e1n he\u2019d get regular starts at shortstop. And he reminded Dur\u00e1n what he does best.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon’t try to do too much, be yourself, and just have your abilities play out; that’s all you need to do,\u201d Ureta said he told Dur\u00e1n. \u201cJust enjoy the game. He enjoys the game wherever he plays it. But being down there in front of his people \u2013 in front of his country \u2013 and getting the opportunity to play for a winning team, I think the rest took care of itself.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
Like this: In his first at-bat of his first game, he homered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that was a big relief for him, too,\u201d Ureta said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just thinking about making adjustments, play the game, have fun and play hard,\u201d Dur\u00e1n \u00a0said. \u201cThe game is hard. I was just trying to get my opportunities and go 100% after them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seemed to work. Dur\u00e1n ended up playing more games in the Dominican than in either of his previous two seasons there. He ended up with an .862 OPS there, the best of his three seasons. And he went to camp with a bit more confidence.<\/p>\n
![\"Texas]()
<\/p>\n
Texas Rangers infielder Ezequiel Duran bats during the seventh inning of a spring training game against the Kansas City Royals at Surprise Stadium on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Surprise, Ariz.<\/p>\n
Smiley N. Pool\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
There he became acquainted with\u00a0Cintr\u00f3n, who was hired partly because Schumaker wanted a Spanish-speaker on his hitting staff, specifically to be able to better communicate with Hispanic players. There were only two on the Rangers\u2019 40-man roster: Dur\u00e1n and Alejandro Osuna. It wasn\u2019t difficult to see the motivation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Cintr\u00f3n may not have been familiar with Dur\u00e1n, the person, but he\u2019d already figured out his game. Cintr\u00f3n is kind of a savant at reading swings and pitchers tells. Over the last few years with Houston, he\u2019d given the Astros\u2019 pitchers plenty to go on. The Astros fed the Rangers a steady diet of four-seam fastballs out of the zone and the Rangers seemed powerless to do anything against them. Dur\u00e1n had a .515 OPS against the Astros from 2022-25.<\/p>\n
Cintr\u00f3n suggested Dur\u00e1n, whose strikeout rate went to 25% in 2025, while his walk rate fell to an unplayable 3.7%, back off the plate a couple of inches. The idea being: It would make pitches off the outside edge appear less hittable. Simple? Sure. Sometimes simple is best.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There were some other changes, too. And they discuss every at-bat, before he goes to the plate and when he comes back to the dugout. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if my swing is different,\u201d Dur\u00e1n said. \u201cBut my posture is. My lower body is. My hands, too. I feel like I can make adjustments right away. And we are both on the same page. We want the same thing. Go to the plate, get a good pitch and make a good swing.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
The results have been dramatic, stemming from much-improved plate discipline. Dur\u00e1n has walked at a 7.7% rate this year, more than doubling his rate from a year ago. His strikeout rate has declined to 23.5%.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
![\"Texas]()
<\/p>\n
Texas Rangers’ Ezequiel Duran (20) is doused by Alejandro Osuna, right, as the team celebrates Duran’s run-scoring single in the ninth inning a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez)<\/p>\n
Tony Gutierrez\/AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez<\/p>\n
There is ongoing conversation about getting his foot down early before getting into his swing. That\u2019s been the most recent topic of animated conversations around the batting cage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those conversations are always loud. That\u2019s just how Dur\u00e1n is.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m the crazy guy,\u201d Dur\u00e1n said. \u201cIt\u2019s just my personality. I don\u2019t want to change that. I’m too loud.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
What\u2019s changed this year: The rest of the league is hearing him, not just his teammates.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Rangers shortstop Ezequiel Duran (20) gestures after hitting a home run during the ninth inning of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,89744],"class_list":["post-444266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news","tag-tp-texas-rangers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}