The Texas Rangers have hired Bruce Bochy as their manager, bringing the three-time World Series champion out of a short retirement to take over a team that has had six consecutive losing seasons.
Texas made the surprising announcement Friday, just more than two weeks after its season ended.
“If I was going to return to managing, it had to be the right situation,” Bochy said in a statement. “I strongly believe that to be the case with the Rangers, and I can’t wait to get started.”
The 67-year-old Bochy hasn’t managed since 2019, when he stepped away after 13 seasons and those World Series titles with the San Francisco Giants, the first of which was a five-game win over Texas in 2010.
“As we went through the interview process, Bruce’s passion and excitement about returning to the dugout was very evident,” said Rangers executive vice president and general manager Chris Young, who played for Bochy with San Diego in 2006. “It became clear he was the ideal individual to lead our club as we continue to build a championship culture here in Arlington.”
Bochy has won 2,003 games as a manager, 951 with the San Diego Padres from 1995 to 2006 and 1,052 with San Francisco from 2007 to ’19.
“In his 25 years with San Diego and San Francisco, Bruce was one of the most successful and respected managers in Major League Baseball,” Young said. “With a calm and steady presence, he has a remarkable ability to connect and communicate with players, coaches, and staff, and his teams have always played with maximum effort. His knowledge of the game, as well as his integrity, is unmatched.”
The Rangers fired fourth-year manager Chris Woodward on Aug. 15, two days before president of baseball operations and former GM Jon Daniels was also let go. Texas went on to finish 68-94, eight wins more than 2021 but what Young said, “was about half of our internal expectations.”
Texas was 17-31 under interim manager Tony Beasley, the longtime Rangers third base coach who was once Young’s manager in the minor leagues. Several young players got extended looks during that span, and the GM said in August that Beasley wouldn’t be judged solely on win-loss record. Beasley was interviewed for the job two days after the season ended.