According to a report made to The Associated Press, the Houston Astros were in the process of promoting their long-term bench coach, Joe Espada, to the managerial position. On Monday, the Houston Astros proclaimed Joe Espada as their new manager. He is stepping into the role to fill the managerial seat left behind by the retirement of legendary skipper Dusty Baker after the 2023 season. Notably, this marks the first managerial appointment for General Manager Dana Brown; it’s noteworthy that Espada’s promotion is an internal move within the organization. Some little-known facts about the rookie manager of the Astros are worth knowing.
The 48-year-old Triple-A Espada has never played in the major leagues. However, his performance in the minors speaks of a legend who chose to impart his knowledge to the MLB players of today. Joe Espada has a rich history, an amalgamation of cultures and sports variegated through his passion for professional baseball.
Joe Espada: A bicultural background
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Espada is a man of discipline, detail, and development. The bilingual and bicultural slugger was born in 1975 to his parents, Miriam Espada Rivera, a healthcare worker, and Dolores Loly Espada. Joe has two siblings: a sister, Rebecca, and a brother, Jael. He’s fluent in both English and Spanish. Having roots in two sets of cultures—the American and the Puerto Rican—has helped him conquer many steps in MLB.
Joe Espada got married to his partner, Pamela Dearth Espada, in 2009. They have two daughters together, Viviana Elena Espada and Eliana Marie Espada. Espada likes to balance his professional and personal lives, never faltering to provide for his responsibilities on both fronts. The Baltimore Orioles’ manager, Brandon Hyde, is the brother-in-law of Joe Espada.
According to a New York Times report, Espada met Pamela while staying in an apartment behind Hyde’s house in 2007. His wife is the younger sister of Hyde’s wife, Lisa. Espada and Hyde had a pre-existing professional relationship from their days together at the Class A Greensboro Grasshoppers. Hyde was the manager there when Espada joined in as the hitting coach for the team.
Speaking of coaching, did you know that Espada’s coach is very proud of his star student? His batting average record in college is yet to be broken by anyone!
His debut in baseball
Espada’s hometown, San Juan, Puerto Rico, is such a place where baseball is as popular as its famous fried chicken. The most populated city in Puerto Rico has its own baseball league, Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto; Espada manages their Gigantes de Carolina team during the winter baseball season.
According to Joe Espada, baseball was his way to a better life; he believes that’s the case for most Puerto Ricans. He told MLB.com, “In Puerto Rico, baseball is the No. 1 sport,” going on to explain, “I remember growing up, baseball was your way of getting out. It was a way to a better life. It was a way to get you a scholarship and go to school. That’s the message I try to give to the kids.”. Needless to say, Espada has kept his word.
“They all want to play in the big leagues. I remind them that not all of them will get an opportunity to get to the big leagues. But baseball could get you a scholarship. It could get you a four-year degree, that’s for sure.”, Espada pointed out the academic aspects of being a Puerto Rican slugger that helped him in his own life. He took that scholarship and got himself enrolled at the University of Mobile. There, he played for the Mobile Rams, his college’s official baseball team, for seasons ’94 to ’96; Espada bagged a .442 career batting average there, which has not been possible for any other students to break to date.
Espada’s collegiate coach, Mike Jacobs, once revealed in a SsacSports interview that Joe has always had an immeasurable depth of knowledge for all things baseball. “Even as a player here, he knew where to be and where everyone else should be, and he knew how to play the game and always played the right way. He was an ideal coach’s player,” Jacobs recalled fondly.
Espada’s minor league career records
Following his college days, Espada stepped into the minor leagues. The Oakland Athletics picked him in the 1996 second-round draft. He played in the minors for nine years, from ’96 to ’05. Espada played 644 games for sixteen teams, six of which were Triple-A teams, namely the Calgary Cannons, Colorado Springs Sky Sox, Memphis Redbirds, Omaha Royals, Sacramento River Cats, and Vancouver Canadians. He retired as a player in 2005 after reaching the Triple-A.
Joe Espada might have never tried his luck on the big-league diamond, but that didn’t stop him from racking up an unbelievable score. His career records boast an impressive .275 BA, .367 OBP, 16 homers with 209 RBIs, and 130 SBs with a .343 slugging percentage. His personal experience as a player and a close bond with his coach helped him step into the MLB and coaching positions in the future.
Coach Espada is in the house!
Espada made his mark in MLB for the first time as the bench coach of the Houston Astros, garnering worldwide recognition during their 2022 World Series Championship win. Before that, Espada debuted on the baseball scene as a coach for the Miami Marlins minor league clubs in 2010. He stayed with them for two seasons, retiring from their minor league clubs in 2013. In the same year, he coached Team Rubio, the Puerto Rican national baseball team, during that season’s World Baseball Classic championships.
In the following season, he took up the job offer to work as a special assistant to Brian Cashman, the Yankees general manager. The Yankees promoted him to the infield and third-base coaching posts in 2015, after which he stayed with them for two more seasons. Espada migrated to the Houston Astros in 2018 as their bench coach. He did apply for managerial positions with the Rangers (2018) and the Cubs (2019), but the deals fell through for one reason or another, and he remained with the Astros as their bench coach till now. A wise decision on his part, given that the Astros just won the Commissioner a season ago, adding the ring to his name.
Joe Espada and his managerial maxims
Houston Astros’ decision to appoint their successful bench coach as their manager has amassed a worldwide reaction; almost all Astros fans claim this to be a positive change, while many state that Joe might be a bit out of his league here. But the principles Espada has been applying to the field since his entry tell a different story.
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When Espada joined the New York Yankees, they weren’t big believers in defensive shifting. DS is a mid-game act of realigning infield defenders away from the spot they began playing in. Most of the MLB, especially a team like the Yankees, who swear by their tradition, frowned upon it. Their then-manager, Joe Girardi, was especially opposed to this technique, going so far as to state that he’d one day support banning it. That didn’t stop Espada from implementing the same in their gameplay.
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Espada was working as the Yankees infield coach when he sought out the help of their analytics team; they developed a smoother and smarter defensive shifting strategy together. Cashman couldn’t have been prouder of Espada’s persevering spirit. “He was a big reason we were able to be transformative eventually with the shift,” he revealed to the New York Times. Cashman also stated that Espada was always on the frontlines. He was always ready to face criticism from field staff, media houses, and fans every time something went awry in the field. The Puerto Rican pushed through everything that was thrown at him. He has been trying to bring forth better gameplay since he stepped foot onto the field. It wasn’t only for the Yankees, but for all the teams he has ever been a part of.
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Well, there you have it—a brief detail on Espada’s background in baseball and beyond. How do you think he will fare as the Astros’ manager next season? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments section below!
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