‘A Very Meaningful Role’: Texas Rangers Move Alex Cintrón Off Hitting Staff, Part Ways With Dave Bush
ARLINGTON, Texas — After one season on the Texas Rangers’ hitting staff, Alex Cintrón will not be back in that role next season, Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young told reporters Monday, The Dallas Morning News’ Shawn McFarland reported. Cintrón isn’t leaving the organization, though. Young said he will move into “a very meaningful role” connected to the offensive staff.
Assistant pitching coach Dave Bush will not return either. Young said there are no current plans to fill Bush’s position. All other members of Rangers manager Skip Schumaker’s staff are back, McFarland reported Monday.
Cintrón made the decision himself, according to Young, who said it was made “to balance what’s best for him at this point.” Texas intends to replace him with an external candidate, McFarland reported.
Alex Cintrón Leaves Texas Rangers Hitting Staff After One Season
On Nov. 12, 2025, the Rangers announced Cintrón as their major league hitting coach on Schumaker’s first staff. He worked alongside lead hitting coach Justin Viele, who had been promoted after his first season with the club in 2025.
Texas finished this season with a 102 wRC+, which ranked eighth in the majors. The club’s .713 OPS ranked 20th. The Rangers went 80-82 and missed the postseason for a third straight year, finishing one game behind the Houston Astros in the American League West.
Before joining Texas, Cintrón spent nine seasons on Houston’s coaching staff. He was a major league coach in 2017 and first base coach in 2018, then served as the Astros’ hitting coach from 2019 to 2025. Over those seven seasons as hitting coach, Houston led the American League with a .764 OPS and a .329 on-base percentage, according to the Rangers. The Astros won the World Series in 2022.
Cintrón batted .275 over a nine-year major league career as an infielder with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and Washington Nationals. Arizona drafted him in the 36th round in 1997 out of Puerto Rico, and he hit .317 in 2003, ninth in the National League.
Dave Bush Out After Three Seasons With Texas Rangers
Bush joined the Rangers in January 2024 as director of pitching strategy. Texas named him to the major league staff on Nov. 26, 2024, and he spent the 2025 and 2026 seasons as assistant pitching coach.
Before that, Bush was the Boston Red Sox’ pitching coach from 2020 to 2023. He had worked in Boston’s organization as a pitching development analyst from 2016 to 2018 and as minor league pitching coordinator in 2019.
As a player, Bush pitched nine major league seasons between 2004 and 2013 with the Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, and Rangers. He appeared in 17 games for Texas in 2011.
Rangers pitching coach Jordan Tiegs is back. So are bench coach Luis Urueta, Viele, third base coach Corey Ragsdale, first base coach Travis Jankowski, quality control coach Rod Barajas, catching coach Brett Hayes, and bullpen coach Colby Suggs.
The deadline for teams to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players is Nov. 20.
