The Houston Astros are making an unexpected coaching adjustment in the middle of the season, and it involves one of the people who helped steer their offense behind the scenes.
Dan Hennigan, who served as the club’s Director of Hitting and Offensive Coordinator in 2026, has left Houston to take an assistant coaching job with Wake Forest’s baseball program. Chandler Rome of The Athletic reported the move, and manager Joe Espada confirmed that Sunday was Hennigan’s final day with the Astros.
Hennigan’s exit comes after a year in which he had a much bigger footprint within the organization. He spent 2025 as the Astros’ hitting coordinator before being promoted after the team overhauled its hitting staff in the previous offseason.
That shuffle brought Victor Rodriguez in as hitting coach and Anthony Iapoce in as assistant hitting coach, while Hennigan moved into a broader role. Rodriguez and Iapoce handled the day-to-day work with hitters, but Hennigan was a central part of the planning process. He helped shape game plans, used data to get hitters ready for opposing pitchers, and supported the rest of the staff throughout the season.
He wasn’t originally expected to be a game-day fixture, but that changed over time. Hennigan eventually became a regular in the dugout, giving hitters another voice during games and traveling with the team on road trips.
With Hennigan gone, the Astros have already mapped out how they’ll absorb the change. Espada said Chuckie Caufield will take on some of Hennigan’s responsibilities around the Major League club. Caufield joined Houston in 2024 as a special advisor and roving hitting coordinator, and his role will now expand while Rodriguez and Iapoce continue in their current jobs.
Houston is not planning any broader changes to its hitting staff. Rodriguez remains the team’s hitting coach, and Iapoce will stay on as assistant hitting coach.
Hennigan’s move also adds another link between the Astros and Wake Forest. More than a year ago, Wake Forest hired Eric Niesen, Houston’s former director of pitching, as its pitching coach.
For Hennigan, the shift closes a two-season run that saw him move from hitting coordinator in 2025 to Director of Hitting and Offensive Coordinator in 2026 before taking the next step in his coaching career at the college level.
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