Delino DeShields pulled from Hooks game

Hooks manager Keith Bodie pulled Delino DeShields from last night's game at Minute Maid Park in the 4th inning for not running out a pop up.

Bodie:
I did not remove him from the game. He removed himself. We have rules. When you hit the ball in fair territory, you got to run the ball out. He didn’t run a ball out. He made a mistake. He’s going to learn from it. He’s going to be better from it. But, no, he’s not injured.

DeShields was nonplussed:
It was just a pop up in the infield, man on first base. I just didn’t run the ball out. That’s all. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but to him it was and he pulled me, so that’s all I got to say.

Minor-League Managers and Staff

Building on some news from yesterday, the Astros have announced minor-league staffing assignments. 

Morgan Ensberg: Roving Instructor. "Will be with Lancaster for home games and scout the Cal League or serve as a roving instructor while Lancaster is on the road."

Adam Everett: Infield Instructor. Will shuttle between the Major-League team and minor-league infielders. 

Vince Coleman: Outfielding/Baserunning Development Specialist, Quad Cities

Managers:

Oklahoma City: Tony DeFrancesco

Corpus: Keith Bodie (2012 Texas League Manager of the Year)

Lancaster: Rodney Linares (Returns for 2nd season with JetHawks)

Quad Cities: Omar Lopez (Greeneville's manager for 2011-12)

Tri-City: Ed Romero (manager of Greeneville in 2010

Greeneville: Josh Bonifay (managerial debut, Lexington's hitting coach in 2012)

GCL Astros: Edgar Alfonzo (previously GCL Astros' hitting coach)

DSL Astros: Johan Maya

Tom Lawless is an infield developmental specialist for OKC, and Mark Bailey will be the catching developmental specialist for Corpus. Former Gold-Glove OF Cesar Cedeno will be Bonifay's hitting coach in Greeneville. 

Quad Cities GM Stefanie Brown:

"It's a somewhat unique set-up, but it shows the emphasis on development that is taking place throughout the Astros organization. We're excited about the staff that Houston has sent us in the first year of our affiliation with them."

Keith Bodie named Texas League Manager of the Year

That pretty much covers it. Corpus manager Keith Bodie was just named Texas League Manager of the Year.

In other Corpus honors, Jose Martinez, Jason Stoffel, Austin Wates, and Jon Singleton were named to the Texas League Postseason All-Star Team.

Keith Bodie got his 1000th win, and Jonathan Villar hurt his hamstring

Congratulations to Hooks manager Keith Bodie who, with a win last night over Frisco, got his 1000th career managerial victory.

Within the linked piece, we find that SS Jonathan Villar left last night's game in the 4th inning with a hamstring injury, but his removal from the game was precautionary.

Nice little profile on Keith Bodie

Hooks manager Keith Bodie has been dealt a nice little hand, what with Jarred Cosart, Jonathan Singleton, Jake Buchanan, and company, and he knows it.

Bodie:
"The challenge is taking all of these pieces and meshing them together and making a cohesive unit that live and work and compete and thrive together. I like the pieces, I love the pieces and I'm excited about the pieces. I know when they step on a baseball field each and every night I'm going to be proud to be standing in that box watching the way they treat the game of baseball. And if that relates in more wins, that's fantastic. I can't tell you how many games we're going to win. But I can tell you every time we go on that field we're going to expect to win."

Corpus Manager Keith Bodie is pumped

Corpus Christi Manager Keith Bodie is predictably excited about the 2012 Hooks:

"I've managed in Double-A. I've managed in this league four years in Wichita. I haven't had a team with the talent like this team's got. And if you look at our record in Wichita, we won every season. We finished first every second half. We were in the playoffs every year and this team is better than any team I ever had with the Royals."

Meet your new Oklahoma City RedHawks manager

Brian McTaggart says that the Astros have hired Tony DeFrancesco as their Triple-A manager in Oklahoma City.

The B-R Bullpen has some background for you. The short version is that he had managed in Oakland's organization since 1994, and with Oakland's Triple-A franchise in Sacramento since 2003, and won three league championships in five years. His overall record of 580-427 (.576) in the PCL is pretty impressive, too.

In 2008, he was Oakland's Third Base Coach.

Within this McTaggart blog post we read that Burt Hooten and Keith Bodie will keep their jobs as pitching coach and hitting coach, respectively.


Quotes!
Director of Player Development/Ex-Ricky Bennett Fred Nelson:
"Tony is a proven winner and developer of talent at the Triple A level. He brings a lot of personal pride and respect for the game and has an aggressive managing style with a reputation for developing disciplined players with winning mentalities. He is a very hard worker with high expectations for himself and for the players he manages. We're excited to have Tony on board."

What? A hitting coach helped someone?

The Astros should fire that guy, then. Oswaldo Navarro credits Round Rock hitting coach Keith Bodie with turning him into a better offensive player.

Navarro:
“He helped me a lot, and I put up good numbers. Just mental, a little more concentration, and that helped me this time put up good numbers in AAA.”

In eight minor-league seasons, Navarro was a career .259/.330/.344 hitter, but in Round Rock (92 PAs, I know) he had been hitting .312/.418/.506 before getting called up.

Minor League coaching carousel

Zach Levine breaks down the ripple effect of the coaching carousel that has occured in Houston with the hiring of Brad Mills and his staff.

Coach	2009 role	2010 role
Ed Romero	Bench Coach, Houston	Manager, Greeneville
Rodney Linares	Manager, Greeneville	Manager, Lexington
Tom Lawless	Manager, Lexington	Manager, Corpus
Luis Pujols	Manager, Corpus	N/A
Mark Bailey	Hitting Coach, Houston	Hitting Coach, Corpus
Keith Bodie	Hitting Coach, Corpus	Hitting Coach, Round Rock
Ron Jackson	Hitting Coach, Round Rock	N/A