First base, bullpen will have new coaches
ORLANDO, Fla. — The mixture of players that made up the Astros’ first World Series championship team will be mostly the same in 2018, but manager A.J. Hinch’s coaching staff will look significantly different.
In addition to losing bench coach Alex Cora and assistant hitting coach Alonzo Powell to promotions with other teams, the Astros will have a new first-base coach and a new bullpen coach.
Rich Dauer, 65, the team’s first-base coach and infield instructor the last three seasons, plans to retire, the team said Monday. The announcement came a little more than a week after Dauer underwent emergency surgery for a blood clot to his brain, though his decision to retire had been made before the medical issue surfaced.
Dauer is still hospitalized but said to be progressing.
“He’s working every day to get a little bit better,” Hinch said Monday. “He’s surrounded by his family and we’ve had a lot of Astros people go see him. Slow and steady progress is how I would describe it and everybody is optimistic it’s going to continue and he’s going to get to leave the hospital soon.”
Alex Cintron, who joined the Astros before the 2017 season as their interpreter, will be Dauer’s replacement in the first-base coach’s box. Jeff Albert and Doug White were promoted from their roles as roving minor league coordinators to assistant hitting coach and bullpen coach, respectively.
Cintron, 38, who played parts of nine major league seasons as an infielder from 2001 to 2009, had assumed the role of an extra assistant coach in the Astros’ dugout beginning in September. He also acted as bench coach for a few games in July after Cora returned home to his native Puerto Rico for the birth of his twins.
“It was very rare to have someone with his credentials in the translator job, but he was willing to do anything to be involved,” Hinch said. “During the season, when Dauer was talking about retirement, we started to expose Alex to a little bit more responsibility.”
Albert, 37, spent the last four seasons as the Astros’ minor league hitting coordinator. He takes the place of Powell, who after the World Series was hired as the hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants. Many of the Astros hitters have already worked extensively with Albert, who is bilingual.
White, 40, was the Astros’ minor league pitching coordinator the last two seasons. He replaces Craig Bjornson, who spent the last four seasons and five of the last six as bullpen coach but wasn’t brought back for 2018. Bjornson has already been hired by Cora as the Boston Red Sox’s bullpen coach.
Both Albert and White were originally hired by Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow as minor league coaches with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2008 before they joined him with the Astros in 2013.
Bench coach Joe Espada, who replaced Cora, is the only new member of the Astros’ coaching staff to come from outside the organization. He was the Yankees’ third-base coach for the last three years. Pitching coach Brent Strom, hitting coach Dave Hudgens and third-base coach Gary Pettis will all return to the Astros in 2018.
Longtime bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte will also return. Assistant bullpen catcher Carlos Munoz was not brought back.
Dauer was part of Hinch’s original Astros staff. Hinch hired him away from the Padres, where he was managing their Class AA affiliate in the Texas League. Dauer had previously coached in the majors for the Rockies, Brewers, Royals and Indians. With the Royals in the early 2000s was when he first met Hinch, then a player.
Dauer played 10 seasons in the majors as an infielder, all with the Baltimore Orioles. He was the second baseman on the Orioles’ 1983 World Series championship team. He won his second ring with the Astros earlier this month.
“He was very selfless in his work,” Hinch said. “He loved to be around the club. He loves to work. … One of the first things he did was connect with (Jose) Altuve about his goals and he helped him become a Gold Glover. He helped Carlos (Correa) break into the big leagues. He’s had a great impact on our players and on our winning.”