Astros: Lance Berkman Named Head Baseball Coach at HBU

Astros great Lance Berkman was named Head baseball coach at Houston Baptist University on May 31st.

My all time favorite Houston Astros baseball player is back in the game of baseball, but this time, he will be in the dugout coaching college kids. Lance Berkman was named head baseball coach at Houston Baptist University on May 31st.

Berkman will replace Jared Moon, who resigned recently after 16 years as head coach. In his opening press conference, Berkman stated coaching was something he has wanted to do for a long time.

“Even before I retired from playing baseball I knew I wanted to coach, and for me there’s no better level than Division I college baseball. It’s the highest level where guys play for the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back.”

Berkman is incredibly grateful for the opportunity and feels prepared to do the job well. He was previously an assistant coach at the University of St. Thomas in Houston and coached high school baseball at Second Baptist.

“If you can coach at the high school level, you can coach at any level because you have to coach every single facet of the game, That was great preparation for me.”

I think Lance is going to be a great college coach, because of his vast baseball knowledge from being in the majors for so long. He can definitely teach those college kids how to effectively hit a baseball, as he was one of the best switch-hitters in the game.

I also think being at a smaller school like HBU will be a better fit for him. It will give him valuable coaching experience without the added pressure of coaching at a powerhouse school like his alma mater, Rice, which he did consider coaching at one point.

I will definitely following his career as a coach, because I think he’ll be successful. It  may take him some time to get things going at HBU, but I think he’ll do just fine.