{"id":851114,"date":"2026-11-11T18:27:15","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T18:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/851114\/"},"modified":"2026-11-11T18:27:15","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T18:27:15","slug":"astros-bring-back-former-catcher-brad-ausmus-as-their-manager-after-joe-espada-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/851114\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros bring back former catcher Brad Ausmus as their manager after Joe Espada exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Brad Ausmus was named manager of the Houston Astros<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

New general manager Randy Flores made the announcement, which brings the former catcher back to the place where he spent 10 years of his playing career.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are thrilled to welcome Brad back to the Astros organization,\u201d Flores said in a news release. \u201cBrad impressed us throughout the interview process, demonstrating the leadership, energy, and expertise critical to driving a winning culture both on and off the field. I am excited to work alongside Brad and happy to have him back in an Astros uniform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ausmus said he is excited to return to Houston.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Astros and the city of Houston have been a huge part of my life, and I\u2019m thrilled to create a new chapter as the team\u2019s manager,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d like to thank Randy and the entire Astros organization for this opportunity, and I can\u2019t wait to get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

He replaces Joe Espada, whose contract wasn’t renewed after the Astros were swept by the Chicago White Sox<\/a> in a Wild Card series. Ausmus is the 21st manager in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Former St. Louis Cardinals<\/a> star Albert Pujols, former Astros player Morgan Ensberg and Texas Rangers<\/a> bench coach Luis Urueta were among other candidates Houston considered before landing on Ausmus.<\/p>\n

His hiring leaves the Angels<\/a> as the only team without a manager after they fired Kurt Suzuki following just one season. The Mariners<\/a> hired Jason Kanzler last week to fill the role from which Dan Wilson stepped down at season’s end.<\/p>\n

This is the third different managerial job for Ausmus, who managed the Angels in 2019 and spent 2014-17 leading the Tigers<\/a>. He most recently worked as the bench coach for the Yankees<\/a> from 2024 through last season.<\/p>\n

The 57-year-old Ausmus went 72-90 in his one season with the Angels and was 314-332 in four seasons in Detroit. His best season came in his first with the Tigers when they went 90-72 to win the AL Central before being swept by the Orioles<\/a> in the AL Division Series.<\/p>\n

He has also worked in MLB<\/a> front offices, spending 2011-13 as a special assistant to baseball operations for the Padres<\/a> and 2018 as a special assistant to the GM for the Angels.<\/p>\n

Ausmus spent 18 years as a major league catcher. He played for the Astros from 1997-98 and 2001-08. He won three Gold Gloves while with the Astros and was named to the All-Star team in 1999 with the Tigers. He also played for the Padres and the Dodgers<\/a> before retiring after the 2010 season.<\/p>\n

He played 1,971 MLB games, including 1,259 with the Astros, the most by a catcher in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Ausmus played in 35 career postseasons games, all of them with the Astros. He was the team’s catcher when the Astros reached the World Series<\/a> in 2005 for the first time. He had a big home run earlier in that playoff run when his shot tied the game with two outs in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the NLDS against the Braves<\/a> that the Astros went on to win 7-6 in 18 innings. <\/p>\n

He was a 48th round pick of the Yankees in 1987. He attended Dartmouth while playing in the minors for the Yankees, graduating in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in government.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See AP\u2019s full MLB coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Brad Ausmus was named manager of the Houston Astros on Wednesday. New general manager Randy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":778380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2390],"tags":[291,46,47,5,49,53,54,1165,446,3223,774,56,57,3224,3222,19,4,62,18,65,67,69,1039],"class_list":["post-851114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-angels","tag-angels","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baseball","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-houston-astros","tag-la","tag-la-angels","tag-laangels","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesangels","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-seattle-mariners","tag-st-louis-cardinals","tag-texas-rangers","tag-world-series"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117599223339747039","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}