Houston Astros hire Dennis Martinez, Eduardo Perez to coaching staff - MLB News
The Houston Astros have finalised their coaching staff on Monday. The club has added former All-Star pitcher Dennis Martinez and Eduardo Perez, a former Major League first baseman and son of Tony Perez, a Hall of Famer. The other four members of the coaching
staff include Doug Brocail, Dave Clark, John Mallee and Dave Trembley.
Martinez will be taking care of the bullpen as Clark will be coaching first base, Trembley will be third base coach. Bench duties will be performed by Perez with Mallee as the hitting coach and Brocail coaching the pitchers.
Eduardo Perez has been a successful manager in Latin America and is currently associated with the Colombian team.
The team is gearing up to qualify for the World baseball Classic. The former MLB player and coach also enjoyed success with Ponce Lions in the Puerto Rican Winter League. He managed the team for two years, 2008-09 and won the title of Manager of the year
in 2008. Perez’s team emerged as the victors of the Caribbean Series in 2009.
The 43-year-old played for six different teams in his 13 Major League seasons. He remained as a baseball analyst with the ESPN for many years as well. His last stint in the Major League was with the Miami Marlins as hitting coach, where Eduardo incidentally
replaced fellow Astros’ Coach John Mallee.
Martinez is currently manager of the Nicaraguan team which is also taking part in the qualifiers for the World Baseball Classic. The 57-year-old has been associated with the St. Louis Cardinals for six years as a pitching coach. He has performed duties as
a pitching coach for the Cardinals’ Double-A affiliates in Springfield and also in the Gulf Coast League Club. His most recent assignment has been with the Class-A Palm Beach for the last two years.
Jeff Luhnow, the Astros’ general manager understands the value of someone like Martinez who has a lot of experience coaching at different levels. “Someone with Dennis' experience as a player and a pitching coach in the Minor League level brings a lot," Luhnow
said.
He was also vocal about the advantage of having a bi-lingual coach in the team. “Being born and raised in Latin America, he adds a lot of value in terms of communicating with all the Latin players, position players and pitchers. This was another thing we
wanted to accomplish getting Eduardo and Dennis,” he said.
Tony DeFrancesco, who managed the Astros after the removal of Brad Mills during the 2012 season, was announced to return to the Triple-A Oklahoma City as a manager. Luhnow described Tony as a manager at heart and a real leader. The general manager also believed
that a short stint with Astros as manager would help Tony as at the Triple-A level.
With a settled coaching staff, the Astros will now be looking to get their 40 man roster in order. It will be ideal if they can settle all matters at hand as quickly as possible and move into the next season as a settled unit.
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