Astros: Bench Coach is Wanted for 2017

Well, the Astros will have at least one position to fill on their major league coaching staff.

The Astros stated not too long ago that the entire coaching staff will return for the 2017 season. That news came out on October 3rd.

Flash forward from to October 28th and the tune has changed slightly. Now Houston will be in the market to fill their bench coach position on manager A.J. Hinch‘s major league staff. This is due to the departure of Trey Hillman, who has been the team’s bench coach for the past two seasons.

Hillman, who is 53 years old, is now the manger of the SK Wyverns in the Korean Baseball Organization. Per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, Hillman’s new deal is for two years valued at $1.6 million. He will also become the first person to manage a professional baseball organization in three different countries. The long-time baseball fixture also the managed the Nippon-Ham Fighters from 2003-07 and held the same job with the Kansas City Royals from 2008-09 that also included a portion of the 2010 season.

While this type of news isn’t exactly earth shattering for the Astros, it should be noted that Hillman will be missed.

His level of professionalism and experience that benefited a young club will not be easily replicated. But it does appear that Hillman didn’t make his decision lightly. And this opportunity in Korea sounds like a great one for he and his family.

We over at Climbing Tal’s Hill wish Hillman and his family the absolute best for their endeavors in Korea.

The immediate question for the Astros is where the team will look for its new bench coach. Courtesy of Brian McTaggart’s post cited earlier, it appears that Hinch and the team’s front office already have an idea how to proceed with the search for the next bench coach. We will just have to wait and see if that person comes from inside or outside the organization.

Time is on the Astros side right now. The World Series is still ongoing and the offseason has yet to truly begin. But the search sounds like it is already underway.