The Astros are finalizing a deal to hire Victor Rodriguez as their new hitting coach, reports Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He has been serving as the hitting coach in San Diego for the past two seasons. Rodriguez has a year remaining on his deal with San Diego. Houston parted ways with hitting coaches Alex Cintrón and Troy Snitker in early October.
Rodriguez has more than a decade of hitting coach experience at the MLB level. After several years coaching in Boston’s minor league organization, he became the Red Sox assistant hitting coach in 2013. Following the 2017 season, he moved on to Cleveland, once again as the assistant hitting coach. Rodriguez took over as hitting coach in San Diego ahead of the 2024 season.
San Diego has hit safely at an elite rate under Rodriguez. After ranking 20th in batting average as a team in 2023, the Padres finished first in 2024. As Acee points out, it was the first time in franchise history that the club paced the league in batting average. San Diego also had the lowest strikeout rate in the majors by a decent margin in Rodriguez’s debut campaign. The Padres’ 17.6% strikeout rate was 1.7% lower than the next-closest team (Houston at 19.3%). The midseason addition of Luis Arraez certainly provided a boost in terms of batting average and contact, while a strong rookie debut from Jackson Merrill helped the club finish eighth in scoring.
The Padres ranked seventh in batting average this past season. They had the third-lowest strikeout rate. Scoring was an issue, as San Diego finished 18th in runs. Merrill, slowed by injuries, took a step back. Xander Bogaerts also missed time. The team had just two regulars finish with an OPS above .800 (Fernando Tatis Jr. and trade deadline acquisition Ramon Laureano).
Houston’s typically dynamic offense scuffled mightily in 2025. The Astros were 21st in scoring this past season. They hadn’t finished bottom 10 in runs since 2014. Houston traded Kyle Tucker to the Cubs and lost Alex Bregman in free agency this past offseason, leaving a gap in the middle of the order. Injuries limited Yordan Alvarez to 48 games, which didn’t help matters. The Astros got solid contributions from Isaac Paredes, who came back in the Tucker trade, though he also missed two months with a hamstring injury. Better luck on the health front, plus continued development from youngsters Cam Smith and Zach Cole, should help Houston bounce back under Rodriguez.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Be prepared for the Astros hitters to be unprepared for the pitchers they are facing and for power numbers to drop off a cliff.
Considering recent history, you could be forgiven for getting the impression Manny and the boys don’t really want coaches preparing them.
I guess you haven’t watched any Astro games in a while, cause this team couldn’t hit for s h it.
Damn. That’s the hitting coach the Angels should have hired. Wonder who else of close caliber they could get.
San Diego letting him go for a lateral job with a year left? I wonder how much Preller and the owners disagreeing on coaching comes into play on this.
I’m surprised they haven’t found a new manager but I guess reports of ownership vs AJ on the last manager have carried over to this manager search. Hopefully they figure it out because I feel like Preller has earned the benefit of the doubt despite some of his flaws.
Just look at the padres slug numbers last year. He was going to out as the padres hitting coach no matter who becomes manager.
@simm
Sounds like you’re reaching to me. Judging a hitting coach on one year of slg % wouldn’t be a wise way to evaluate. Especially considering Petco park’s marine layer at night. I won’t pretend to know the inner workings of their front office but there’s been many reports of new ownership not seeing eye to eye with AJ which I find sad because I think Preller is one of the best amateur scouts baseball has.
Maybe bats going cold is on the players holding them. Just a wild thought.
In terms of managerial instability, it might be time to consider the role played by a common denominator. The senior playing group. Being the bridge between them and the coaches at the Padres might be a really really tough gig.
Might be, so are some other gigs.
3 in 5 years. Discord reported in all of them. The evidence suggests tougher than others.
There was no disagreement between ownership and Preller on Shildt. Preller didn’t want Melvin and he was correct about that.
Sure thing websoulsurfer. Since you apparently work in the front office, why did shildt leave a winning squad and cite “severe” emotional toll of working for that team. Where there’s smoke there’s fire and it sounds like people are jumping ship, but keep sipping on your cherry cope. I’m sure the rumors of discord at many levels mean nothing.
You should really listen to and read what Shildt actually said. Since you don’t work in the front office and no one has said what you are trying to say, I am going to go with my knowing more about the situation than you do.
Cherry cope? How old are you? My 11-year-old grandson uses language like that.
Does the 11yo also have multiple accounts backing himself up ?
Just interested. It might be one of those childish hereditary things.
Some veterans just can’t be helped like tatis and manny. They are not disciplined enough to watch film know pitchers tendencies etc. they are b plus hitters with elite defense. Prone to long slumps. The fact victor is being allowed to make this lateral move doesn’t say a lot for the current state of leadership in San Diego. If preller is extended this week and a manager is hired right after maybe the manager said he would bring someone else in. Can’t help but feel like preller is not going to be to extended and some sort of mutual break up will happen shortly then a gm search will commence followed by a manager being hired. Just a hunch. Unfortunate given start of free free agency and gym meetings coming quick but then again doubt padres will be players this off season. They have 3-4 holes to fill and could still make the playoffs filling them with league average players
Reports are today that preller will be extended and could both the manager and his extension announced at the same time
That is hilarious and shows a complete disconnection from reality. Tatis just put up a 6 WAR season. A top 10 or 12 player in all of baseball that was 25% better than average with the bat. Machado put up a 4.1 WAR, All Star level play, in a season where he was below average with the glove. baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/fielding-run-va…
Vic was brought on board by Melvin, not because Preller wanted him in 2023. He was kept here because Shildt liked to play small ball, something Vic was a proponent of. That he was basically shown the door, just like Melvin was, says that Preller did not believe in his abilities.
Do you really believe you have even the slightest clue about baseball?
I was wrong. Vic was hired in December, after Mevin was shown the door.
Padres fans have been calling for his ouster for a while now. With a new manager incoming in the next few days, it is not really a surprise that Preller let him walk with a year on his contract.
This was very predictable, all except him finding a new gig before he was let go. Saved the padres from having to pay him next season though.
They were singing his praises in 2024 when they led the league in batting average. I don’t think it’s victors fault the Shildt moved tatis to lead off changing his entire batting approach to getting on instead of slugging moving arreaz to 2nd slot where he started almost every at bat 0-1 looking at first strike then then 0-2 with a foul. Messed both of them up last year. That kind of tweak and sticking with it stubbornly all year can completely derail your lineup.
Who was singing his praises? The media? Not the fans, that is for sure. They wanted him gone when Melvin was shown the door. Not the Padres themselves. Shildt never publicly praised Vic. I don’t recall a time that Preller did either.
Tatis went from 2.6 WAR to 6 WAR. His OPS+ in leadoff was 119. His OPS+ hitting 2nd in 2024 was 115. Obviously it didn’t mess him up at all at the plate. He helped the Padres win more games by hitting leadoff and that means moving him was successful.
Batting 1st Arraez had a 100 OPS+ in 2024. Batting 2nd in 2025 he had a 97 OPS+. All of that is explained by the fact that Vic had him sac bunting 21 times in 2025 vs once in 2024.
His name is Vic. It’s always been Vic. No one calls him Victor. If you are going to try to get on a 1st name basis, at least know what name he goes by.
I really think Vic is a good hitting coach for a team that wants to strike out less. It felt like they (Vic and perhaps with shildts backing) took it to an extreme level of small ball in 2025.
Not striking out is good but the bunts and the lack of pulling the ball in the air sapped the padres slug. Also made it difficult to score runs.
I think the success of Merrill last year and Sheets this year is largely due to good coaching from Rodriguez. The lack of slug from 1B/DH and at positions filled by light-hitting injury replacements (LF/CF/SS) weren’t really on the hitting coach.
Preller is a good scout. But he has made some of the worst trades of all time. Also, some of the contract extensions are not good.
Why him.
I’m not sure how much of the team’s offensive struggles were on Rodriguez, Shildt, or personnel (Arraez), but I thought there were a lot of approach issues. There’s definitely room for a lineup to play small ball when the time calls for it, but there’s a reason offense in the league has moved away from that identity. Tatis’ LA issues the past two seasons (especially in a healthy 2025) were especially frustrating.
Merrill and Bogey had an injury riddled years, Arraez played a power bat position but doesn’t have power, the DH was rarely a power bat. They should improve next year assuming healthy, Laureano in LF, and turnover at key positions.
I guess they want to be able to hit more trashcans