Kawamura took unlikely path as a coach
Background in math and economics a perfect fit for baseball’s new age of analytics
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The new coach needs no introduction. He took a circuitous path toward this lifelong goal, from a small liberal arts college in Salem, Ore., to behind the scenes of a dynastic run. This season, Tommy Kawamura will trade tedious hours behind a computer screen for something he’s long envisioned.
“I know some people work sometimes their whole career in baseball and don’t have a chance to do this,” Kawamura said this week. “I’ve been very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time — kind of like my whole baseball career at this point.
“There’s not many of these jobs. It’s really hard to get on a coaching staff. It’s a goal, and I certainly don’t take it for granted by any means.”
Kawamura is the only new member of the Astros’ major league coaching staff. His background and title epitomize the sport’s shifting staff-building dynamics. Only a handful of other teams employ a game-planning coach. The Los Angeles Dodgers had one before restructuring their staff this winter. Former major league catcher Jason Varitek still holds a similar title for the Boston Red Sox.
Kawamura spent the past three seasons as Houston’s advance scouting coordinator and has
been involved in their advance scouting operations since 2018. He accompanied the team on all of its road trips and, for the past two seasons, wrote scouting reports on opposing hitters. He joined catcher Martín Maldonado’s pregame meetings with the day’s starting pitcher to deliver his analysis.
During games, players and coaches frequently sprinted to the clubhouse and sought Kawamura’s advice. This winter, assistant general managers Bill Firkus and Andrew Ball wondered whether the process could be more efficient.
“The inspiration was it might be nice to have that person be more accessible, potentially in-game to be a little closer to the field so
they don’t have to walk back into the clubhouse,” Kawamura said. “It was kind of a long road. It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. I had expressed that I wanted to try coaching again.”
Kawamura played four seasons at Division III Willamette University. He never hit a home run or chased outside the strike zone, becoming a source of backhanded compliments from more skilled teammates. “You walk so much for being such a bad hitter,” one once told him.
Kawamura played through a torn labrum as a junior, but it impacted him so much that coaches moved him off of shortstop. Teammates still elected him a captain.
Kawamura never had
any illusion he’d play professionally. He earned a degree in mathematics and economics and learned to write code, giving him a perfect skill set for baseball’s analytics movement. The New York Mets hired him as an advance scouting intern in 2015.
That same year, a minor league coaching position came open with the Astros. The team sought a development coach to assist in introducing initiatives using Trackman data. Applicants needed an analytical background.
“Can you throw batting practice and write sequel code?” Kawamura remembered being asked.
“Back then, there (weren’t) a ton of people who could do that, so it worked out nice. A really bizarre background.”
Kawamura spent 2016 in Davenport, Iowa, with the Quad Cities River Bandits. He worked on manager Omar López’s coaching staff. Kyle Tucker played in the outfield. José Urquidy and Framber Valdez pitched. Now, all four are reunited in major league uniforms.
“I was very pleased with the impact I could make without playing at the same level all these guys played,” Kawamura said. “Once I got out of it and into advance scouting, that was a great job, but there was always something kind of calling me back to try and get back on the field. I’d like to try to stay on the field side, if possible. It’s nice to be active and be a lot more relationship-based.”
Kawamura’s specific duties will evolve as the season progresses. He will still be involved in advance scouting but has relinquished the coordinator title to Kyle Ruedisili, who will write scouting reports of opposing hitters. Zach Loewenberg will do the same for pitchers.
It’s unclear whether Kawamura will be in uniform on game days — he is technically Houston’s 11th coach, and major league rules allow only 10 in uniform — but he will be in the dugout to execute his duties. Some might involve monitoring the pitch clock. Others will be more akin to what he’s done during his past five seasons.
“I’m certainly not qualified to talk about hitting or pitching mechanics or anything like that or even infield or outfield technique,” Kawamura said. “Certainly, I’m a lot more here to help the players and coaches with kind of the same stuff I’ve been doing in advance scouting.”
Kawamura once presumed his path in baseball would end in a front office. Now, he’d prefer to continue as a coach. Gleaning more traditional experience is imperative to accomplish that. Working under Dusty Baker, Joe Espada and Gary Pettis offers it.
Kawamura won’t work with any specific group of Astros players. He spent the first week of spring training helping in a variety of ways: be it catching throwdowns during catcher’s drills or watching Espada and López tutor the team’s infielders.
Kawamura is a frequent target of good-natured ribbing — part of the indoctrination for the staff’s newest member. Tucker and others who watched him coach in the minor leagues are unfazed by the job switch. Others have a more visceral reaction. Kawamura emerged in uniform before the second day of workouts and caught eyes with Maldonado, the man with whom he met before every game of last season’s World Series run. A wide smile crept across the catcher’s face.
“Hey, Coach!” he yelled for all to hear.