Astros Set to Officially Hire Padres Veteran Hitting Coach Victor Rodriguez

The Houston Astros are making a major staff change official.

May 20, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; San Diego Padres hitting coach Victor Rodríguez (47) watches batting practice before a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. | Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros are making a major addition to their coaching staff official after days of rumors surrounding the possibility.

According to a report from Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, the Astros have a done deal with soon-to-be former San Diego Padres hitting coach Victor Rodriguez to come over to Houston in the same role.

Rodriguez has been with the Padres for only the last two seasons, but has more than a decade of experience coaching MLB hitters. He served as an assistant for the Boston Red Sox from 2013-2017 as well as the Cleveland Guardians in the same role until eventually being hired by San Diego.

Bringing in Rodriguez is part of a major offseason staffing shakeup both in the dugout and the front office, and one of those changes was moving on from hitting coaches Alex Cintron and Troy Snitker.

Snitker has already landed a job with the New York Mets, so potentially this could be a great thing for both sides.

Rodriguez Has Been Involved with Major League Baseball for Decades

Apr 7, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Diego Padres hitting coach Victor Rodríguez (47) before the game against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Rodriguez was initially signed at the age of 15 as an international free agent to the Baltimore Orioles in 1977, but things never really panned out for him at the big league level. Across brief stints in 1984 with Baltimore and 1989 with the Minnesota Twins, he played in just 17 career MLB games.

Ironically though, his stats were phenomenal in that sample size with a slash line of .429/.429/.607, collecting 12 hits in 28 plate appearances. In the minor leagues, he played largely in Triple-A until retiring and moving into coaching in 1995. Across 1,759 minor league games, he slashed an impressive .295/.331/.407, and it's carried over into his coaching career.

Hitting for average was what Rodriguez did best as a player, and this is the mindset he brought to the Padres.

San Diego's Offense Dramatically Improved Under Rodriguez

Apr 9, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; San Diego Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts (2) is congratulated by San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt (left) and hitting coach Victor Rodríguez (right) after scoring a run against the Athletics during the third inning at Sutter Health Park. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The year prior to Rodriguez's arrival, the Padres ranked 20th in Major League Baseball in terms of batting average. Then, in 2024 they jumped to first place for the first time in franchise history.

In 2025, they ranked in the top-ten both in batting average and on-base percentage with one of the lowest strikeout rates in baseball.

After a season for Houston in which the offense -- largely due to injury -- was nowhere near where it needed to be, bringing in someone like Rodriguez could have a massive impact and allow the team to get back to the basic mechanics of hitting.

Clearly, it was time for a change on the bench for the Astros, and bringing in Rodriguez feels like a wonderful move to shake some things up and hopefully get it fixed in 2026.

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