Astros Make Another Front Office Move

While the Houston Astros haven't done much on the player side this offseason, that hasn't stopped general manager Dana Brown to make some moves within his front office and the baseball operations overall.

After being hired for this role in January of 2023, Brown wasn't able to do much to shape things into how he wants things to look under his leadership.

That's changed this offseason.

Following departures, some forced and some voluntary, Brown has promoted multiple executives into new roles, as well as hiring some new people to join the Astros.

They hired a new senior director of amateur scouting on Tuesday.

And now, Brown has made another addition, hiring former Washington Nationals' director of player development, De Jon Watson, as a special assignment scout according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic.

Watson was previously the special assistant to Nationals' GM Mike Rizzo from 2017-22 before his promotion to his former role last season.

Rizzo decided not to bring back Watson after the year.

Brown has shown that he likes executives with scouting backgrounds to join him in Houston after being a former scout himself.

Starting as an area scout with the Miami Marlins in the 1990s, Watson worked his way into the Cincinnati Reds' director of scouting and pro scout. He then moved to director of professional scouting with Cleveland from 2004-06.

Watson then spent eight years leading the Los Angeles Dodgers' player development system which produced great players during his tenure from 2007-14.

He has an impressive track record within professional baseball and Brown his hoping that he brings that expertise to the Astros as they look to rebuild their pipeline that is considered the worst in the MLB.