Former Astros catcher changes sides to join coaching staff of top AL East squad

Houston Astros fans who still have their memories clouded by the at-least-one-season-too-long tenure of Martin Maldonado may have forgotten just how good Robinson Chirinos' 2019 season was for the Astros.

In addition to being more than reasonable at the plate with a .790 OPS that year, he was a tremendous defensive catcher and ended the season with 3.9 rWAR. Unfortunately, Houston decided not to keep him, and he ended up returning to the Rangers.

Chirinos would end up bouncing around the league the next few seasons as a highly respected backup catcher before playing his last game with the Orioles in 2022 and retiring shortly thereafter. As it turns out, that was not the last we would hear from him, as the Orioles just hired Chirinos to be their bench coach going forward.

Former Astros catcher Robinson Chirinos was just named bench coach for the Orioles

While Chirinos was never able to achieve stardom in MLB, it was clear that organizations valued having him around, given how long he managed to stick in the game. Good for him finding a way to get back to the majors and coach what is an annoyingly good, talented baseball team in Baltimore.

This isn't the first time that the Orioles have added someone with Astros connections into a leadership role, of course. Former Houston assistant GM Mike Elias is now running the Orioles, with Astros analytics guru Sig Medjal joining Elias shortly thereafter. While Chirinos isn't nearly as high-profile as those two execs, it is clear that Baltimore's organization has a decidedly Houston flavor to it at the moment.

Time will tell if Chirinos' hiring moves the needle much in the Orioles' favor and makes them a bigger threat to the Astros' dominance in the American League. Bench coaches typically fly under the radar and focus on learning the ropes from their manager, but Chirinos' expertise at catcher could pay huge dividends for Adley Rutschman, who underperformed expectations in 2024 and could be a future MVP candidate if everything clicks for him.

More from Climbing Tal's Hill