Joe Espada has some big shoes to fill with the Houston Astros.
Dusty Baker, who managed the team from 2020 to 2023 and won the 2022 World Series, stepped away from the game, paving the way for Espada, previously the bench coach, to take over.
The promotion is now official and Espada has signed his contract.
Working for years with such an experienced baseball man was extremely beneficial for Espada’s surging career, and he is the first one to acknowledge it.
Joe Espada is grateful for his time working with Dusty Baker pic.twitter.com/mIRTDnfUlj
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) November 13, 2023
Per Talkin’ Baseball, Espada said that being the bench coach of a “future Hall of Fame manager is incredible. It was an honor”.
Baker has been managing MLB games since 1993, when Espada was playing college baseball.
Baker accumulated so much experience through wins and losses that he is virtually a walking baseball encyclopedia.
Espada had the luxury of sitting alongside him, learning the nuances of the job, and then when he was ready, replace one of his mentors.
The Astros are confident he can take some of Baker’s knowledge and combine them with his own view and approach towards the game, which is more modern.
Espada has been accumulating experience through coaching and also managing throughout the years.
He has been a bench coach, a third base coach, an infield coordinator, and a hitting coach in the minors and majors; and he also managed the Puerto Rico national baseball team in the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classics.
He already knows what it’s like to be the leader of a baseball team, but now, he will do it for an MLB team with World Series expectations.
The post New Astros Manager Credits His Predecessor In Big Way appeared first on The Cold Wire.