Managerial/Coaching/Developmental Staff 2019

[Nate Colbert]

32-year old Mickey Storey, just a couple of years removed from his playing career, will be AAA Round Rock's manager. He was the manager at QC in 2018 (and developmental coach at BC a year earlier).

Reported by McTaggart.

[Nate Colbert]

Astros with the full announcement of minor league managers, coaches and development staff. I'll break everything down later.

[Nate Colbert]

Significant changes in player development staff from year to year is pretty much a given but it was turbocharged in 2019. Only a handful of guys return in the same positions they held in 2018. With the expansion of coaching positions throughout the minor league levels, it's rather odd that the Astros chose to eliminate the position of development coach. Luhnow had previously cited the creation of that position as a big reason for the org's success. In addition to the elimination of those four development coach positions, I count the elimination of at least five other coaching positions.

Pitching Coordinator..............Bill Murphy (prev: pitching coach--CC)
Hitting Coordinator................Jeremy Barnes (prev: hitting coach--TRC)
Fundamentals Coordinator...Jason Bell (prev: manager--TRC)
Catching Coordinator............Mark Bailey


Round Rock
Manager...............Mickey Storey (prev: manager--QC)
Pitching Coach.....Drew French (prev: pitching coach--BC)
Hitting Coach.......Ben Rosenthal (prev: hitting coach--BC)

Corpus Christi
Manager...............Omar Lopez
Pitching Coach.....Graham Johnson (prev: pitching coach--QC)
Hitting Coach.....Tim LaMonte (prev: private hitting instructor)

Fayetteville
Manager...............Nate Shaver (prev: development coach--BC)
Pitching Coach...Thomas Whitsett (prev: director of pitching development--U of Arizona)
Hitting Coach.....Jason Kanzler (prev: asst coach--Katy HS and asst coach--Brewster Whitecaps in CCBL)

Quad Cities
Manager..............Ray Hernandez (prev: development coach--Fresno)
Pitching Coach....Erick Abreu (prev: pitching coach--TRC)
Hitting Coach......Rafael Pena (prev: development coach--QC)

Tri-City
Manager............Ozney Guillen (prev: Ozzie's son spent 5 years playing in indy leagues)
Pitching Coach..John Kovalik (prev: pitching coach--Slippery Rock U)
Hitting Coach....Sean Godfrey (prev: hitting coach--Indiana Southeast U)
 
GCL Astros
Manager...............Wlad Sutil
Pitching Coach.....Jose Rada
Hitting Coach.......Rene Rojas
Rehab Coach.......Todd Naskedov

DSL Astros
Manager..............Carlos Lugo (prev: coach at the DSL academy in 2018 and manager before that of 2nd DSL team)
Pitching Coach....Rick Aponte
Hitting Coach....Ernesto Irizarry (prev: private hitting instructor)


bold = new to organization


I'll discuss the folks who didn't return in a separate post.

[Nate Colbert]

The nine coaching/development positions eliminated for 2019 by the Astros (by my count):

Asst Pitching Coordinator
Development Coach--Round Rock
Development Coach--Corpus Christi
Development Coach--Buies Creek/Fayetteville
Development Coach--Quad Cities
2nd Hitting Coach--GCL
Hitting Coach--West Palm Beach complex
Coaching Positions (2)--Dominican Summer League

[Nate Colbert]

Those who were promoted to the MLB level or have departed the organization...

• Josh Bonifay--fielding coordinator who left to become director of player development for the Phillies.
• Josh Miller--pitching coordinator who is now the Astros' bullpen coach.
• Chris Holt--asst pitching coordinator who left to become pitching coordinator with the Orioles.
• Rodney Linares--Fresno manager fired and then hired by the Rays as their 3rd base coach.
• Dyar Miller--Fresno pitching coach who at age 72 and after 51 years in professional baseball we'll guess has chosen to finally hang 'em up.
• Darryl Robinson--the 51-year old hitting coach for Fresno wasn't retained after 10 years with the org.
• Troy Snitker--son of the Braves' manager who goes from Corpus Christi hitting coach to co-hitting coach with the Astros.
• Mycal Jones--the development coach at Corpus Christi whose position was eliminated.
• Morgan Ensberg--the ex-Astro and Buies Creek manager was fired and then hired as AA manager for the Rays.
• Dillon Lawson--the Quad Cities hitting coach moved to the Yankees as their hitting coordinator.
• Cesar Cedeno--the 68-year old ex-Astro was a hitting coach for the GCL Astros last year but apparently wasn't retained after 31 years with the organization.
• Ralph Dickenson--the 71-year old who has held a variety of jobs with the Astros for the last 6 years (including last year as hitting instructor at the West Palm Beach complex) either retired or was not asked back.
• Charlie Romero--at age 52 and after 5 years with the organization the DSL manager won't be back.

[Nate Colbert]

Speaking of Dillon Lawson, an interesting article on him in The Athletic and his work with Dr. Peter Fadde on pitch recognition.

[Duman]

• Cesar Cedeno--the 68-year old ex-Astro was a hitting coach for the GCL Astros last year but apparently wasn't retained after 31 years with the organization.

This one stuns me.  Unless he just retired, I can't see there not being a role for him. I watched him work in Greeneville and he was an important part of teaching young kids how to be a professional as well as teaching about baseball.

[Nate Colbert]

Chandler Rome on Ozney Guillen...

Ozney is bilingual, valued in every organization but especially with the Astros, and grasps what his father calls the "new side" of baseball. The Guillens are close with Omar Lopez, the manager at Class AA Corpus Christi, and have watched both Alex Cora and Alex Cintron advance within the organization. Ozney's repertoire "checked a lot of boxes for us," Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said Saturday. "Hopefully he has some of Ozzie's personality," Luhnow said with a grin, "but he's going to be great. We're excited to have him and everyone that interviewed him thought it as a slam dunk that we should try to hire him."

"He's not afraid to be around people and talk around people and put it together," Ozzie said of his son. "He knows how to be a manager off the field, how to talk to Dominican kids, how to talk to Venezuelan kids, how to talk to kids from the South, from North Carolina. He's been in the game for so long that he has the privilege of knowing how people grow up and that will help him to go through different players and different cultures."

[Nate Colbert]

Mark Singelais of the the Times Union:

Guillen [age 27] is even younger than Jason Bell, 28, who guided the ValleyCats to the New York-Penn League title last season. And at least Bell had experience coaching in college and elsewhere in Houston's system before getting the job.

Bell was the 2nd youngest manager in affiliated ball last year so Guillen might possibly be the youngest manager this year.

Guillen interviewed with Astros director of player development Pete Putila, who says he prefers a younger, less-experienced candidate who can be taught the Houston way of instructing players. "One of the things that gets overlooked sometimes in player development is coach development, which for me personally is probably more important than player development,'' Putila said. "When you get coach development right, player development should come. We're really looking to redefine and enhance the role of manager and we're trying to figure out how we can get more out of those positions. It's a good opportunity for someone to learn how to manage the way we want them to manage in that regard."

[Nate Colbert]

I can't say with any certainty but Nate Shaver might be the first manager in baseball history to have a PhD.

https://www.fayobserver.com/sports/20190124/woodpeckers-will-have-phd-at-helm-for-inaugural-season


Mike Marshall was apparently born too soon.