LAS VEGAS – In a step toward reshaping their coaching staff and an offense that underwhelmed in 2025, the Houston Astros have finalized hires for a new three-person hitting staff.
Victor Rodriguez is being hired from the San Diego Padres as lead hitting coach and Anthony Iapoce from the Detroit Tigers, general manager Dana Brown said Wednesday. Dan Hennigan, who spent 2025 as the Astros’ hitting coordinator, will be promoted to director of hitting and offensive coordinator.
Hennigan, a biomechanics specialist who spent 2023-24 as a hitting analyst with the Twins, will not be in uniform for games but will be involved in game planning. The hitting staff hierarchy will be more defined than in recent seasons, when Alex Cintrón and Troy Snitker served as co-hitting coaches.
“Getting a guy like Vic Rodriguez, a veteran guy, as a number one hitting guy who’s worked with a lot of really good major-league hitters, he’s going to be leading the charge,” Brown said during the general managers’ meetings. “I think in the past we didn’t have our number one truly defined and (had) kind of like co-number ones. So I think these guys are all bringing their own specialties.”
Rodriguez, 64, served as the Padres’ hitting coach for the past two seasons and was previously assistant hitting coach for the Guardians (2018-23) and Red Sox (2013-17). Iapoce spent the past two seasons as first-base coach in Detroit, under former Astros manager A.J. Hinch, and previously served as hitting coach for the Cubs (2019-21) and Rangers (2016-18) and as the Red Sox hitting coordinator in 2022.
“I think Vic has a unique skill set into tapping into the psyche of a lot of players and some good players from the past,” Brown said. “I think Iapoce comes with a lot of energy and experience, doing it for six years as a number one (hitting coach).
“And then Dan Hennigan will help us from an analytic and data standpoint in terms of preparing, game planning and things like that. So I think it’s a complete overhaul of how we did things. We have the hierarchy and we have distinct roles that we feel good about.”
The Astros did not bring back Cintrón and Snitker following a 2025 season in which they ranked 21st in the majors in runs scored and 15th in OPS. Injuries were one factor, but the team’s offensive approach came under scrutiny, despite Brown’s calls for more hitters to adopt more patience last offseason.
Houston had the second-highest chase rate and the third-highest swing rate in the majors in 2025. The club also saw the third-fewest pitches per plate appearance, tendencies that both Brown and manager Joe Espada vowed to address after the Astros missed the postseason for the first time since 2016.
“I think a big part of it is just getting guys to lock in on their pitch,” Brown said. “Stay in the middle of the field, stay in the middle of the zone. Be patient unless you get that type of pitch. Don’t swing at that pitch early that’s right on the edges. I think we were doing that and getting ourselves out, too much early contact, and I think it took away from our slug because we weren’t getting good pitches to hit.
