In Rudy they trust: the Rangers have a bond with hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, whose impact is clear: no opposing pitcher dare mess with Texas' lineup

Sporting News, The, August 30, 2004 by Evan Grant

"There is a certain bond people form with others," Jaramillo says. "I want them to know that I'm loyal and that I'll do whatever it takes to help them get the most out of themselves. I'm never going to say it's got to be done one way. I always tell the players, 'Don't worry about adjusting to me; I'll adjust to you.' What I really want is to help them trust themselves."

"The main thing I gained from Rudy was more confidence in myself," says the Astros' Jeff Bagwell, who found someone willing to work with his unusual stance during Jaramillo's four years (1990-93) as Houston's hitting instructor.

The two still keep in contact. So do Jaramillo and Ivan Rodriguez. Rodriguez, 32, was a member of the Rangers organization from age 16 through the 2002 season. When he returned to Arlington for an interleague series last year as a member of the Marlins, he was hitting .255. He sat down with his old mentor and talked for an hour--there was no hitting instruction, just a conversation about frustrations and struggles. The talk ignited Rodriguez, who batted .321 from that point until he lifted the World Series trophy.

Young remembers a similar galvanizing moment. It was more than two years ago at spring training. Young, then a second baseman, was coming off a rookie season in which he flashed a fantastic glove but hit only .249. New Rangers G.M. John Hart always had favored more offensively inclined second basemen.

"He (Jaramillo) took me aside in the cage and he said, 'Don't worry, we're going to get this done,'" Young recalls.

Jaramillo has been inspiring such trust in major leaguers and future big-leaguers for 20 years.

Raised in Dallas, Jaramillo, the Rangers' 19th-round choice in the 1973 amateur draft, never got higher than Class AA as an outfielder. After leaving professional baseball, he spent a couple of summers coaching youth-league ball. That whetted his appetite for more. So he parked himself in the Rangers offices one day, hoping to see then-G.M. Joe Klein, who had been his Class AA manager.

"What was the worst they could (say), 'Get out'?" Jaramillo says. "I've had a lot of people tell me to get out."

Klein didn't chase him out. Organizations running on shoestring budgets, as the Rangers were in the early 1980s, can't afford to chase away anyone willing to work for $1,100 a month. Klein instead referred Jaramillo to his new farm director, Tom Grieve. Jaramillo left that interview with a job to coach in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League.

"I'd like to think that even if we hadn't been operating on a (tight budget), we'd have made the same choice," says Grieve, who was the Rangers' G.M. from 1984-94. "Rudy was that impressive. And I thought his experience was perfect for the Gulf Coast League. He'd worked with kids. He'd dealt with parents. He was bilingual. And he was passionate."

At the time, the Rangers were at the front of a charge to bring in Latin American players, particularly those from Puerto Rico. Among them was a raw righthanded-hitting outfielder with a big leg kick. Jaramillo watched the kid for a while, noticed his swing was adaptable to the left side as well and asked the player if he would consider switch hitting. Because he is bilingual, Jaramillo could suggest the idea in a way that made it easier for the outfielder to accept.