Major League Baseball

Ex-Rockies manager Hurdle joins Rangers' staff

Published Nov. 5, 2009 8:29 p.m. ET

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Former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle was hired as the new hitting coach for the Texas Rangers on Thursday.

Hurdle takes over the job that Rudy Jaramillo held for 15 years before turning down a one-year deal at the end of the season. Jaramillo then got a three-year contract to become hitting coach for the Chicago Cubs.

"Clint adds another experienced, successful coach to our major league staff," general manager Jon Daniels said. "He's demonstrated an ability to communicate, motivate, and emphasize a team-first offensive mentality."

The Rangers plan to emphasize situational hitting over slugging next season. Texas hit .260 last season, 11th in the AL, but was second with 224 homers.

Hurdle was the Rockies manager for seven-plus seasons before being fired in May. He had a 534-625 record and led Colorado to the 2007 World Series as an NL wild card team.

Before being manager, Hurdle was the team's hitting coach for five-plus seasons, a span during which the Rockies batted better than .290 twice for the NL's top two averages in 70 years. The Rockies led the National League in batting average in each of Hurdle's five full seasons as the hitting coach.

The Rockies were 18-28 when Hurdle was fired as manager May 29 and replaced by Jim Tracy. Colorado went on to finish with a franchise-best 92-70 record and made the playoffs before being eliminated in the division series by Philadelphia.

During a 10-year career as a major league player (1977-87), Hurdle hit .259 with 32 homers and 193 RBIs in 515 games for Kansas City, Cincinnati, the New York Mets and St. Louis. He hit .417 (5-for-12) for the Royals against Philadelphia in the 1980 World Series.

Hurdle was a manager in the Mets minor league system for six seasons. When he was the manager at Triple-A Tidewater in 1992, current Rangers manager Ron Washington was on his staff.

Texas chose Hurdle from four finalists, who were all interviewed Monday.

The others were former Rangers player Rusty Greer, the only of the group that had never been a major league hitting coach, former Oakland hitting coach Thad Bosley and Gerald Perry, who has been a hitting coach for Seattle, Pittsburgh, Oakland and the Cubs.

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