Donnie Ecker

Donnie J. Ecker

• Bats: Left, Throws: Right
• Height: 6' 4", Weight: 190 lb.
• School: Lewis-Clark State College
• High School: Los Altos (CA) High School

• Born: March 9, 1986 in Bakersfield, CA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

After being drafted by the Texas Rangers in 2007, Donnie Ecker played professionally for two seasons in the Rangers minor league system followed by two more years in the independent leagues. After retiring as a player, Ecker's move into coaching began with a question: Why couldn’t he hit?[1]

Prior to his entrance into the major league coaching ranks, Ecker worked his way up through the lower levels of the profession.

• 2011-2012 Assistant coach, Los Altos (CA) High School
• 2013-2014 Head coach, Los Altos (CA) High School
• June 7th - end, 2014 Assistant coach, Bakersfield College
• 2015 Coach, Palm Beach Cardinals
• 2016 Hitting coach, Palm Beach Cardinals
• 2017 Hitting coach, Peoria Chiefs
• 2018 Hitting coach, Salt Lake Bees

In 2019, Ecker was hired for his first major league coaching job as assistant hitting coach of the Cincinnati Reds under newly appointed manager David Bell, but he only stayed for one season. In 2020, he moved to the San Francisco Giants as co-hitting coach, along with Justin Viele. In 2022, he was named bench coach & offensive coordinator of the Texas Rangers, but when manager Chris Woodward was fired late in the season, it was third base coach Tony Beasley and not Ecker who took over as skipper in the interim. In 2023, his title was bench coach and offensive coordinator, but again, that did not necessarily make him the #2 man on the bench as Will Venable had joined the team as "Associate Manager" and right-hand man to manager Bruce Bochy. Ecker retained his same role in 2024. In 2025, he was the team's de facto hitting coach, with the title of "Offensive Coordinator", but was dismissed on May 5th after a number of players on the team started the year poorly, most notably Joc Pederson and Marcus Semien. He was replaced by former major league player Bret Boone.

In 2026, he was named bench coach of the Baltimore Orioles under first-year manager Craig Albernaz.