HOUSTON, TX — The Houston Astros have added to their Major League staff, naming Victor Rodriguez the hitting coach, Anthony Iapoce the assistant hitting coach and Dan Hennigan the director of hitting and offensive coordinator. Additionally, the Astros announced the promotion of Connor Huff to an assistant general manager position. The announcements were made by Astros general manager Dana Brown.
The Astros will announce their full Major League field staff at a later date.
Rodriguez joins the Astros from the Padres, where he served as San Diego’s Major League hitting coach for two seasons (2024-25). Under his watch, the Padres led Major League Baseball in batting average (.258) over the last two seasons combined, while posting the fewest strikeouts in the Majors. Rodriguez also has Major League experience as an assistant hitting coach with the Guardians (2018-23) and Red Sox (2013-17), where he reached the postseason on six occasions, including the Red Sox 2013 Championship run. Rodriguez has over 50 years of experience in professional baseball as a player, instructor or coach.
Iapoce joins the Astros from the Tigers, where he served as Detroit’s first base coach for the last two years (2014-15). Iapoce (pronounced eye-uh-poh-see) has a wealth of experience in baseball, including three-year stints as a Major League hitting coach with both the Rangers (2016-18) and Cubs (2019-21). He also has experience as a minor league manager, a hitting coordinator, a special assistant, and multiple years as a minor league hitting coach.
Hennigan is being promoted to the Major League staff after spending the 2025 season as the Astros minor league director of hitting. Hennigan, who will not be in uniform, will focus on analytics and data, as well as game planning for the Astros Major League hitters. Prior to joining the Astros, Hennigan spent two years (2022-23) as a hitting analyst for the Twins.
Huff joined the Astros in 2022, most recently serving as the Vice President of Business and Baseball Operations, responsible for a number of cross-functional strategic and analytics projects. A graduate from Middlebury College where he was the captain of the men’s varsity basketball team, Huff completed his MBA with honors at Harvard Business School. Prior to joining the Astros, Huff spent time in Africa working on a broad number of projects with the Basketball Africa League and Sports for Education and Economic Development (SEED).