List of Houston Astros managers

The Houston Astros are a professional baseball franchise based in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the American League West Division in Major League Baseball. The team joined MLB in 1962 as an expansion team named the Houston Colt .45s and changed their name to the Houston Astros in 1965. The team won their first NL Championship in 2005. Having first played in Colt Stadium (1962–1964), and later in The Astrodome, now known as the Reliant Astrodome (1965–1999), the Astros have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, which was first named The Ballpark at Union Station, since 2000.[1][2] The current manager is Joe Espada.

Bill Virdon is the all-time winningest manager in Astro history; he won 544 games while leading the Astros to their first postseason berth in 1980 and two division titles.

There have been 25 managers for the Astros franchise.[3] The team's first manager was Harry Craft, who managed for three seasons. Bill Virdon is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games managed (1066) and the most regular-season game wins (544). Dusty Baker is the franchise's all-time leader in career playoff games managed (53) and playoff games won (34). Salty Parker is the Astros' all-time leader for the highest regular-season winning percentage, as he has only managed one game, which he won. Of the managers who have managed a minimum of 162 games (one season), Baker has the highest regular-season winning percentage with .594.[3] Leo Durocher is the only Astros manager to have been elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Durocher and Baker each achieved their 2,000th managerial win with the Astros.[4] Garner, Hinch, and Baker are the only managers to have won league pennants with the franchise, Garner winning one in the National League in 2005, Hinch winning two in the American League in 2017 and 2019, and Baker winning two in 2021 and 2022. Larry Dierker is the only Astros manager to have had his uniform number retired by the Astros, with his uniform number 49 retired by the Astros in 2002.[5] Dierker is also the sixth manager in MLB history to win a division championship in his first season for the Astros in 1997.[5] Lanier and Dierker are the only managers to have won a Manager of the Year Award with the Astros, winning it in 1986 and 1998 respectively.[6] Grady Hatton, Lanier, Dierker, and Cooper have spent their entire managing careers with the Astros.

Key

#Number of managers[a]
GMRegular-season games managed
WRegular-season wins
LRegular-season losses
Win%Regular-season winning percentage
PGMPlayoff games managed
PWPlayoff wins
PLPlayoff losses
PWin%Playoff winning percentage
*Spent entire MLB managing career with the Colt .45s / Astros[3]
**Interim manager only[3]
***Acting manager during manager's medical leave of absence
Elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager[4]
§Number retired by the Colt .45s / Astros franchise[5]

Managers

Note: Statistics are correct as of the end of the 2023 season.

#ManagerYearsGamesWinsLossesPct.PAPWPWLPct.Notes
1Harry Craft19621964471191280.406
2Luman Harris1964196517570105.400
3Grady Hatton*19661968385164221.426
4Harry Walker19681972708355353.501
5Salty Parker**19721101.000
6Leo Durocher197219731939895.508
7Preston Gómez19741975289128161.443
8Bill Virdon197519821,066544522.5101046.400
9Bob Lillis19821985537276261.514
10Hal Lanier*19861988486254232.523624.3331986 NL Manager of the Year[6]
11Art Howe19891993810392418.484
12Terry Collins19941996421224197.532
13Larry Dierker19972001810448362.55314212.1431998 NL Manager of the Year[6]
14Matt Galante***1999271314.481
15Jimy Williams20022004412215197.522
16Phil Garner20042007529277252.524261313.5002005 NL championship
17Cecil Cooper*20072009341171170.501
18Dave Clark**20091349.308
19Brad Mills*20102012445171274.384
20Tony DeFrancesco**2012411625.390
21Bo Porter*20132014300110190.367
22Tom Lawless**2014241113.458
23A. J. Hinch20152019810481329.594502822.5602017 World Series Champion
2019 AL championship
24Dusty Baker20202023546320226.586533419.6422022 World Series Champion
2021 AL championship
25Joe Espada2024–present---

Notes

  • a A running total of the number of managers of the Colt .45s/Astros. Thus, any manager who has two or more separate terms as a manager is only counted once.
  • b Each year is linked to an article about that particular MLB season.

References

General
  • "Astros All-Time Managers". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
  • "Astros Year-by-year Results". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
  • "Houston Astros History & Encyclopedia". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
Specific