Joe Espada

Josue Espada (born August 30, 1975) is a Puerto Rican professional baseball coach, who is the current manager of the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously coached in MLB for the Miami Marlins, New York Yankees, and the Astros. In international competition, Espada has coached for Puerto Rico, winning two silver medals in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). From Santurce, Puerto Rico, Espada attended the University of Mobile, Alabama, where he played college baseball for the Mobile Rams. He was selected in the second round of the 1996 MLB draft by the Oakland Athletics, and played in the A's minor league system until 2000. As a free agent the following year, Espada signed with the Florida Marlins, and subsequently played in four other organizations and independent baseball, reaching as high as Triple-A with a total of five seasons at that level. After his playing career, Espada became a coach in the Marlins organization and was promoted to be their major league third base coach from 2010 to 2013. He then joined the Yankees as a special assistant to the general manager in 2014. Prior to the 2015 season, the Yankees named Espada as third base coach. The Astros hired Espada as bench coach after the 2017 season, and promoted him to manager after the 2023 season.