Texas Rangers Spring Training Notebook: Bochy's Instagram, Leiter's Degree, Del Taco

SURPRISE, Ariz. — Bruce Bochy's daily media scrum nearly went off the rails Thursday morning, and the Texas Rangers manager was the culprit.

Bochy, who turns 69 in April, mentioned in passing that he has an Instagram account, which hit like a screeching record player for the media members assembled.

Bochy was in the process of answering a question about athletes often having too many voices feeding advice, tips, and other presumably helpful information into their heads. It can be too much for some young players, such as Rangers star pitching prospect Jack Leiter. 

Bochy was comparing such a player to an amateur golfer, listening, watching, and reading too many tips on perfecting their swing.

"You're looking at all these lessons and Instagrams or whatever," Bochy said. "Next thing you know, you have 120 swing thoughts when you swing at the golf ball. The reason I'm saying that is because I'm one of those guys."

Bochy said he follows a golf expert or two and enjoys the occasional wacky pet post, which then conjured up a memory of infielder Matt Duffy's now-deceased 27-pound  tabby cat named Skeeter. Skeeter became a fan favorite, and his 2017 death at 15 was mourned by San Francisco Giants fans. Bochy managed Duffy, who signed a minor league deal with an invitation to Rangers major league camp, for three seasons in San Francisco.

It was a fun way to end the conversation with Bochy. But please pour one out for Skeeter. RIP.

Jack Leiter Graduated

Jack Leiter can now start making the big bucks.

The Ranger's first-round pick and No. 2 overall selection in the 2021 MLB draft completed his degree at Vanderbilt University in the fall.

Okay, we were joking about Leiter's salary. He doesn't need to worry about cash after earning a $7.9 million signing bonus. In some ways, it's even more impressive that the son of former MLB All-Star Al Leiter (who made a very nice living himself), still felt compelled to finish his degree in human and organizational development. Leiter received credit with an internship with WME Agency, the merged talent agent powerhouse between William Morris and Endeavor. Leiter said other former athletes have tried serving as volunteer coaches to finish off their degrees.

"They don't let 'baseball player' be the internship," he joked. "[Earning my diploma] was one of the side things that I wanted to accomplish ... and I'm happy about that."