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Astros Make Significant Front Office Hire With New Assistant General Manager

Originally posted on Houston Astros on SI
By Michael Brauner | Last updated Oct 30, 2025 2:22 PM ET

The Houston Astros have made a significant hire to their front office as part of an offseason shakeup after their year came to a close before reaching the playoffs.

As first reported by Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, the Astros have promoted Connor Huff to the role of assistant general manager after the dismissal of Andrew Ball earlier this month. Before being bumped up, Huff served in the role of Houston's vice president of business and baseball operations.

Ball's dismissal was part of a major set of sweeping changes that came in the wake of the announcement that both manager Joe Espada and general manager Dana Brown would be retained.
In addition to Ball, hitting coaches Troy Snitker and Alex Cintron, catching coach Michael Collins and head athletic trainer Jeremiah Randall were all told they were not going to be brought back to the organization. Snitker found a new job in the same position with the New York Mets.

Will This Change Anything for Astros?

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The Astros were not satisfied with the way things went in 2025 after missing the postseason for the first time since 2016. They made that displeasure known by changing up the coaching staff and front office in some significant spots.

Exactly what impact Ball had on the failures and how Huff could elevate things remains to be seen, but Houston thinks highly enough of Huff that they were willing to give him the chance to report directly under Brown.

While staffing changes are encouraging, they are rolling the dice by keeping Brown and Espada in place with another chance to fix things after an ugly year. Injuries were probably the biggest reason why the Astros came up short, and that was reflected -- fair or not -- in the dismissal of Randall.

Huff Gets Promotion Ahead of Massive Winter for Astros

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Houston is going to have some tough calls to make this winter, as the franchise feels at a major crossroads as to whether they are going to continue re-tooling so they can compete for a championship or if they begin the process of a long rebuild.

No matter which direction they take, though, there will now be someone new who has some say in the building, and this could prove to be a positive thing for the Astros coming off the end of this era of dominance.

Time will tell if the right moves were made.