The Houston Astros named Brad Ausmus as their manager on Wednesday, bringing the former catcher back to the club where he spent 10 of his 18 seasons as a major league player. New general manager Randy Flores made the announcement, and Ausmus becomes the 21st manager in franchise history. He replaces Joe Espada, whose contract was not renewed after the Astros were swept by the Chicago White Sox in a Wild Card series. Ausmus will be introduced at a news conference on Friday at Daikin Park.
Brad Ausmus returns to Houston after Yankees spell
Brad Ausmus, 57, spent the past three seasons as the bench coach of the New York Yankees, working under Aaron Boone from 2024 through last season. Before that he managed the Los Angeles Angels in 2019 and the Detroit Tigers from 2014 to 2017. His career managerial record is 386-422, and he has yet to win a postseason game as a manager. His best season came in his first year in Detroit, when the Tigers went 90-72, won the American League Central and were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the Division Series.
Flores said the club was thrilled to welcome Brad Ausmus back, and said he had impressed the Astros through the interview process with his leadership, energy and expertise. Flores said those qualities were critical to building a winning culture on and off the field, and said he was excited to work with him. Ausmus said the Astros and the city of Houston had been a huge part of his life, and he thanked Flores and the organisation for the chance to manage the club.
Brad Ausmus played 1,971 major league games as a catcher, including 1,259 with the Astros, the most by a catcher in franchise history. He played for Houston in 1997 and 1998 and again from 2001 to 2008, winning three Gold Gloves with the club and reaching the World Series in 2005, the first time the Astros had done so. He was named an All-Star in 1999 while with Detroit, and he also played for the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers before retiring after the 2010 season.
What Brad Ausmus inherits in Houston
Espada went 256-229 in three regular seasons and won two division titles, but the Astros went 0-4 in the postseason under him. Houston went 81-81 in 2026 and still won the American League West before the White Sox swept the Wild Card series in three games. Flores took over as general manager on October 30, two weeks before the managerial announcement, after the club fired Dana Brown in August.
The Astros also considered former St. Louis Cardinals star Albert Pujols, former Astros player Morgan Ensberg and Texas Rangers bench coach Luis Urueta before settling on Brad Ausmus. Pujols had been interviewed for the job, according to reports, but the club went with a manager who had already held the job twice before. Ausmus is the second managerial hire of the offseason, and his appointment leaves the Angels as the only club without a manager after they fired Kurt Suzuki following one season.
Brad Ausmus and the work ahead
He will have to fill out a coaching staff, starting with a bench coach to replace Omar Lopez, who remains with the organisation. Ausmus also worked in front offices earlier in his career, as a special assistant to baseball operations for the Padres from 2011 to 2013 and as a special assistant to the general manager for the Angels in 2018. He was a 48th-round pick of the Yankees in 1987 and attended Dartmouth while playing in the minor leagues, graduating in 1991 with a degree in government.
The Mariners hired Jason Kanzler last week to fill the vacancy left when Dan Wilson stepped down at the end of the season, and the Angels are now the last club still looking for a manager. For Houston, the hire is the first big move of the Flores era, and Brad Ausmus will be judged on whether he can take a club that won its division at .500 back to the postseason and past the first round.