Donnie Ecker

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name = Donnie Ecker

|team = Texas Rangers

|number = 14

|position = Coach

|bats = Left

|throws = Right

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1986|3|9}}

|birth_place = Bakersfield, California, U.S.

|teams =

Cincinnati Reds ({{mlby|2019}})
San Francisco Giants ({{mlby|2020}}–{{mlby|2021}})
Texas Rangers ({{mlby|2022}}–present)

|awards=

World Series champion ({{wsy|2023}})

}}

Donald Joseph Ecker (born March 9, 1986) is an American professional baseball coach. He is the offensive coordinator for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played college baseball for California State University, Long Beach and Lewis–Clark State College. The Texas Rangers selected Ecker in the 22nd round of the 2007 MLB draft. He has coached in MLB for the Cincinnati Reds and the San Francisco Giants.

Early life

Ecker graduated from Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California, in 2004. He played baseball and football at Los Altos, and received an athletic scholarship to the University of Nevada for football. The Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB) selected him in the 28th round of the 2004 MLB draft. Though Ecker did not sign with the Reds, he opted to focus on baseball.

College career

He enrolled at California State University, Long Beach and played college baseball for the Long Beach State Dirtbags as a freshman, for whom he was 2-for-12 with a double in 2006.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=46080|title=Donnie Ecker Player Card - The Baseball Cube|website=www.thebaseballcube.com}} He transferred to Lewis–Clark State College in Idaho and continued his college career for the Lewis–Clark State Warriors, for whom he was 1-for-7 in 2007.{{cite web|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2012/11/13/ecker-new-man-on-diamond-for-los-altos/ |title=Ecker new man on diamond for Los Altos |work=The Mercury News |date=November 13, 2012 |access-date=November 20, 2018}}

Professional career

=Draft and minor leagues=

The Texas Rangers selected Ecker in the 22nd round of the 2007 MLB draft. He played in the Rangers organization in 2007 and 2008, batting .268/.360/.371 in 97 at bats for the Rookie-level AZL Rangers and the Class A Short-Season Spokane Indians. He then played in the Frontier League, an independent baseball league, batting .291/.391/.401 in 172 at bats in 2010 in Illinois for the Windy City Thunderbolts and the Gateway Grizzlies. He retired as a player prior to the 2011 season.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/grizzlies-vow-not-to-be-burned-by-a-slow-start/article_cb6d2ef2-823c-11e0-8bd6-0019bb30f31a.html|title=Grizzlies vow not to be burned by a slow start|first=Scott|last=Marion|website=STLtoday.com|date=May 19, 2011 }}

Coaching career

He coached baseball at Los Altos High School, first as an assistant for two years, and then as coach for two years from 2013-14.{{Cite web|url=https://lmtribune.com/sports/former-lcsc-player-ecker-recently-named-hitting-coach-for-giants/article_49735153-5a4d-50fe-a873-4604759720fc.html|title=Former LCSC player Ecker recently named hitting coach for Giants|website=The Lewiston Tribune|date=December 14, 2019 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.losaltosonline.com/sports/coach-ecker-exits-los-altos-bound-for-bakersfield-college/article_5a667633-fe74-595f-8049-e48473272d69.html|title=Coach Ecker exits Los Altos, bound for Bakersfield College|first=Diego Abeloos-Staff|last=Writer/diegoa@latc.com|website=Los Altos Town Crier|date=June 18, 2014 }} Bakersfield College hired him as an assistant coach in 2014.{{cite web|url=https://www.losaltosonline.com/news/sections/sports/194-baseball/47756- |title=Coach Ecker exits Los Altos, bound for Bakersfield College |publisher=Losaltosonline.com |date=June 18, 2014 |access-date=November 20, 2018}}

In addition to coaching at Los Altos High School, Ecker coached at the prestigious college development amateur baseball program [https://calclubbaseball.com California Club Baseball (CCB)] from 2011-2014. During his time with CCB, Ecker helped lead his teams to three COLT World Series titles along with mentor future major league players Kris Bubic, James Outman and Trevor Larnach.

In 2015, the St. Louis Cardinals of MLB hired Ecker to work in player development, a position he held for three years.{{Cite web|url=https://www.losaltosonline.com/news/sections/sports/194-baseball/49216-from-an-eagle-to-a-cardinal|title=From an Eagle to a Cardinal|first=Diego Abeloos-Staff|last=Writer/diegoa@latc.com|website=Los Altos Town Crier|date=January 7, 2015 }} In 2015 and 2016 he was the hitting coach for the Class High-A Palm Beach Cardinals, and he was then the hitting coach at Class A Advanced Peoria Chiefs in 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mlb.com/news/reds-add-j-r-house-donnie-ecker-to-staff-c300873020|title=Reds add House, Ecker to Bell's coaching staff|website=MLB.com}}

In 2018 Ecker was the hitting coach for the Los Angeles Angels' Triple-A affiliate the Salt Lake Bees.

The Cincinnati Reds hired Ecker as their assistant hitting coach in November 2018.{{cite web|author=November 19, 2018 |url=https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2018/11/19/j-r-house-donnie-ecker-join-manager-david-bell-reds-coaching-staff/2058964002/ |title=J.R. House, Donnie Ecker join manager David Bell on Reds coaching staff |publisher=Cincinnati.com |access-date=November 20, 2018}} The Reds added the title director of hitting to Ecker's responsibilities following the 2019 season.{{cite web|url=https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-reds-hitting-department-moves|title=Reds announce new hitting department structure|website=MLB.com|date=October 24, 2019|access-date=October 24, 2019}}

The San Francisco Giants hired Ecker as one of their two major league hitting coaches prior to the 2020 season.{{cite web|url=https://sfgiants.mlblogs.com/sfgiants-add-eight-to-coaching-staff-c4f89b37bd33|title=SFGiants Add Eight To Coaching Staff|website=MLB.com|date=December 11, 2019|access-date=December 11, 2019}} The Texas Rangers hired Ecker as their bench coach and offensive coordinator on November 1, 2021.{{Cite web|last=Pavlovic|first=Alex|date=November 1, 2021|title=Giants hitting coach Ecker leaving SF to join Rangers staff|url=https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/giants/giants-hitting-coach-donnie-ecker-leaving-join-rangers-staff|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-01|website=NBC Sports Bay Area|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101163252/https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/giants/giants-hitting-coach-donnie-ecker-leaving-join-rangers-staff |archive-date=November 1, 2021 }} He spent the 2022-2024 seasons in that role. Prior to the 2025 season, Texas removed his bench coach duties for him to focus solely on the offense.{{Cite web |title=Rangers announce 2025 Major League coaching staff |url=https://www.mlb.com/press-release/release-rangers-announce-2025-major-league-coaching-staff |access-date=2025-01-18 |website=MLB.com |language=en}}

References

External links

{{Twitter|donald_ecker}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20190817190050/http://m.mlb.com/cin/roster/coach/452778/donnie-ecker Cincinnati Reds coaching bio]

{{s-start-collapsible|header={{s-sports}}}}

{{succession box | title=Cincinnati Reds assistant hitting coach | before=Tony Jaramillo | years=2019| after= Joe Mather}}

{{succession box | title=San Francisco Giants assistant hitting coach | before=Rick Schu | years=2020-2021| after= Pedro Guerrero}}

{{succession box | title=Texas Rangers bench coach | before=Don Wakamatsu | years=2022-present| after=Incumbent}}

Category:1986 births

Category:Living people

Category:Baseball players from Bakersfield, California

Category:Baseball infielders

Category:Arizona League Rangers players

Category:Spokane Indians players

Category:San Angelo Colts players

Category:Windy City ThunderBolts players