HOUSTON — Coming off their first missed postseason since 2016, the Astros have made significant changes to their coaching staff, front office and athletic training staff.
Astros hitting coaches Alex Cintrón and Troy Snitker won’t have their contracts renewed by the club, sources told MLB.com on Thursday, along with Major League coach Michael Collins, who handled the catchers. In addition, a source said the club won’t retain assistant general manager Andrew Ball, who just completed his fourth season.
What’s more, head athletic trainer Jeremiah Randall won’t return in 2026, a source said. The team has not confirmed the moves.
The changes come after the Astros, who were devastated by injuries all season, stumbled in the second half of the season and missed the playoffs by one game. Houston went 87-75 and tied with Detroit for the third Wild Card in the American League, but the Tigers held the tiebreaker. The Astros had made the playoffs eight seasons in a row.
The remainder of the Astros’ coaching staff is expected to return, though only third-base coach Tony Perezchica and quality assurance coach Jason Bell are currently under contract for next season (Perezchica has two years remaining on his deal). Astros manager Joe Espada will be in the final year of his three-year deal in 2026.
Espada was informed in the final week of the regular season he was returning for ‘26. General manager Dana Brown will enter the fourth and final year of his contract next year.
Cintrón, who played parts of nine seasons in the big leagues, joined the Astros in 2017 as the club’s Spanish translator, advance coach and assistant coach. He was promoted to first-base coach in 2018 and hitting coach in ‘19, prior to the Astros setting the Major League record for slugging percentage that season. Snitker, the son of former Braves manager Brian Snitker, joined the staff in ‘19. Both were in those roles when the Astros won the World Series in ‘22.
Collins, a native of Australia, joined the Astros in 2018 and worked closely with the catchers.
A season after leading the AL in batting average in ’24, the Astros’ offense regressed this year, though injuries played a huge part. They ranked 21st in MLB in runs, tied for 16th in homers, 26th in walks, tied for 11th in average, tied for 14th in OPS and 23rd in batting average with runners in scoring position. Houston was 28th in pitches seen per plate appearance.
The Astros had 28 players land on the IL this year, including eight players with multiple stints. FanGraphs projected the Astros’ potential WAR loss from injuries at 17.6, which was the highest in the big leagues.
At one point, the Astros had 18 players on the injured list. Along the way, they lost Yordan Alvarez for 100 games with a broken bone in his hand and for the final 11 games with a sprained ankle.
In addition, four pitchers had Tommy John surgery: Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski, Brandon Walter and Luis Garcia, who had a second such procedure Oct. 1.
One of Ball’s responsibilities was overseeing sports medicine and performance. Randall, whose group was named Major League Baseball’s athletic training staff of the year in 2017 by the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society, just completed his 10th season leading the Astros’ training staff.
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