GM Dana Brown and manager Joe Espada are sticking around, but that doesn’t mean the Astros aren’t making big changes. The team is parting ways with hitting coaches Alex Cintrón and Troy Snitker, catching coach Michael Collins, head athletic trainer Jeremiah Randall, and assistant GM Andrew Ball, as relayed by Brian McTaggart of MLB.com and Chandler Rome of The Athletic.
It’s no shock that the Astros are looking for new blood. They missed the playoffs this year for the first time since 2016, after a season marred by injuries and offensive inconsistency. McTaggart confirmed yesterday that both Brown and Espada would return in 2026, but it appears that Cintrón, Snitker, Collins, Randall, and Ball aren’t so lucky.
Cintrón first joined the Astros as an interpreter and soon became the first base coach. He and Snitker, previously a minor league hitting coach, took over as Houston’s co-hitting coaches in 2019, and they filled the role together for the next seven years. There is no question that they inherited a highly talented group, but all the same, Cintrón and Snitker deserve their fair share of credit for guiding an offense that led the AL in all three triple-slash categories from 2019-24. Unfortunately, the Astros finished with just a 100 wRC+ in 2025, indicating league-average levels of offensive production. The hitting coaches can’t be blamed for the departure of Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman or injuries to Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes, but nonetheless, it’s not surprising that the organization decided to head in a new direction.
Speaking of injuries, Alvarez and Paredes were far from the only Astros to miss significant time, and that likely explains why Randall is out of a job after 10 seasons as Houston’s head athletic trainer. According to the Baseball Prospectus Injured List Ledger, no team lost more value to the IL than the Astros in 2025. And while some of those injuries might have been unpredictable and unpreventable, the club dealt with some particular scrutiny for how it handled injuries to Alvarez and Jake Meyers.
Collins grew up playing cricket in Australia (per Leah Vann of Chron) before learning to play baseball and quickly generating interest from MLB scouts. After a long minor league career, he moved into minor league coaching and eventually joined the Astros as a bullpen catcher in 2018. He took over catching coach duties the following season.
Ball previously worked in the Rays and Angels front offices before he joined the Astros as an assistant GM prior to the 2022 season. He was part of the team that temporarily took over Houston’s front office the following winter in the interim period between the end of James Click’s time as GM and the beginning of Brown’s tenure. According to the Astros’ website, Ball’s duties included overseeing the team’s research & development and sports medicine & performance departments.
This has never been fact-checked, but my suggested answer to “how much negative WAR has one team’s position ever accrued in a single season?” is the 2008 Orioles, who started *at least* five different regular shortstops, accruing about -5 WAR on the season. One of them was Alex Cintron, who I can’t believe teaches hitting to anyone.
Maybe it’s like a George Costanza ‘opposite day’ situation.
Here’s everything I did, now go and do the opposite.
Interesting factoid, but I’d counter that some of the best teachers I’ve ever had in multiple roles have been those who struggled greatly with the subject at one point. You learn multiple ways to analyze and dissect the topic when you’re not as naturally gifted. Only my .02, of course.
By your theorical assumption Ted Williams would also likely be the greatest hitting coach of all-time.
Young Snit headed to a similar role in Atlanta?
The last few from the trashman era..
*trashcan
I wonder how many games the head trainer cost them.
A lot. See Alvarez, Yordan
See Kyle Tucker
Yankees should be doing the same….
I wonder what Twins fans think of trading Correa to Houston? Considering what Pohlad is willing to spend, managing to drop a little better than 2/3 of the cost of that contract seems like a win even more after Correa’s performance this season. Yes, the prospect you got back is pretty much nothing adjacent but it still seems like a win to me.
I think they could’ve done better trading him in the offseason. Correa’s age 31-33 seasons look much better at $21M/yr than $32M/yr, but all he needs is one season like 2022 or 2024 to pay for half of the Astros’ obligation. The deal looks good if you think Correa is toast, which I don’t buy.
He is not toast but he is not elite anymore
Okay. You are making a good point. Do I think Correa is cooked? No, I wouldnt go that far. But his production isnt simply contingent on his skill. For example, Correa had been shaping up to have a monster season in 2024 but it was hampered by injury. Was that enough production to account for $21 million? It seems close to me. Problem is you have to go back to 2022 when you can definitely say yes, he would be worth $21 million.
It seems injury is more concerning than a deep downward slope of talent.
It was like the hitting coaches for Houston abandoned the process that worked so well in the previous years they were there. Sure the lineup changed, but strike zone knowledge, low chase percent, patient ABs, deep counts and low Ks were the cornerstone of Astros hitting for a long time. Only Paredes was doing anything close to that this year. Did the philosophy change? Did the coaches forget what worked before? Or did they lose the ear/trust of the locker room?