DeFrancesco won’t return to Fresno
SEATTLE — Tony DeFrancesco, manager of the Astros’ Class AAA affiliate for the last seven seasons, won’t return for 2018, the team said Wednesday.
DeFrancesco, 54, plans to seek another opportunity working in baseball. He has spent 23 seasons as a minor league manager and 34 years in baseball, including his days as a player. Baseball America selected him as its minor league manager of the year in 2015 after he led the Fresno Grizzlies to the Triple A championship.
“I had a great seven years with the Astros,” DeFrancesco said Wednesday shortly after the team’s announcement. “I think we helped develop a championship-caliber team. I want to thank (Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow) for the opportunity and wish him and the entire Astros organization the best.”
DeFrancesco, whose contract was set to expire at the end of October, managed the Astros’ Class AAA affiliate when it played in Oklahoma City from 2011 to 2014 before following the organization to Fresno for 2015-17. He also served as the Astros’ interim manager for their final 41 games of the 2012 season after Brad Mills was fired.
“We are very thankful to Tony for his contributions to the Astros organization,” Luhnow said in a prepared statement released by the team. “He has had a long, successful career as a manager and played a key role in the efforts to rebuild our minor league system over the past few years. We wish him the very best in the future.”
As a player, DeFrancesco caught in various levels of the minor leagues in the systems of the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds from 1984 to 1992. His coaching career includes a season as the third-base coach for the Oakland Athletics in 2008. He’s won more than 1,000 games as a Class AAA manager.
The Astros don’t have a timetable to name a new Class AAA manager, according to Luhnow. Asked about potential candidates, Luhnow said the team has “several strong international candidates,” a list that includes Class AA Corpus Christi manager Rodney Linares.
Tuesday next for Verlander
Justin Verlander will make his second start as an Astro on Tuesday night in the team’s series opener against the Los Angeles Angels, manager A.J. Hinch said.
Verlander, who pitched six innings of one-run ball in his team debut Tuesday night in Seattle, will be pitching on six days’ rest. He’s in line to oppose another hardthrowing righthander in the Angels’ Garrett Richards, who allowed a run in 31⁄3 innings Tuesday in Oakland in his first start since April 5.
Starting Tuesday puts Verlander tentatively in line to make his home debut Sept. 17, when the Astros close a three-game series against the Mariners at Minute Maid Park.
Odds and ends
Jose Altuve was given an off day Wednesday. “The world’s still OK,” A.J. Hinch said, “and he’ll be back in there the next time we play.” …
Lance McCullers Jr.’s activation from the disabled list and James Hoyt’s recall from Class AAA brought the Astros to 35 players on their active roster. Michael Feliz’s and Evan Gattis’ looming returns from the DL will make it 37. …
Beginning Friday in Oakland, Michael Coffin, the radio broadcaster for the Corpus Christi Hooks, will call the final seven games of the Astros’ road trip on their radio broadcasts with Steve Sparks. Bill Brown had filled in last weekend at Minute Maid Park and this week in Seattle for Robert Ford, who’s expected to return to the airwaves next homestand after his recent emergency appendectomy.