Yankees lose key coach to American League rivals

Spencer Medick, the pitching coach for the New York Yankees‘ Triple-A affiliate in 2026, is joining the Houston Astros as their new director of pitching, according to multiple reports Tuesday, Oct. 20.Medick, 35, joined the Yankees as the pitching coach for the Single-A Hudson Valley Renegades in 2022. He held the same role in 2023 with the Florida Complex League Yankees, in 2024 with Hudson Valley again, and joined the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders as bullpen coach in 2025.After another season with the RailRiders, Medick will head to a new organization in a new, non-uniformed role.MORE: Leaked video from Houston Sports Hall of Fame event shows Astros GM candidateLast season, the RailRiders had the fourth-best earned-run average and strikeouts per nine innings rates n the International League. The Astros have cleaned house in 2026. They fired general manager Dana Brown in August and manager Joe Espada in October — after the team finished 81-81, won the American League West, and were swept in a best-of-three wild-card series by the Chicago White Sox.Behind the scenes, the Astros have cut back on full-time analytics personnel since their run of seven consecutive American League Championship Series appearances (2017-24), a stretch of success that included two World Series victories.MORE: Rays minor league pitcher suddenly retires amid World Series runMedick represents the organization will still value data-driven decision-making in their personnel decisions in 2027.Before he joined the Yankees’ organization, Medick worked as a throwing trainer at Driveline Baseball from 2019-21. He pitched professionally from 2014-18, including a single season of affiliated baseball with the Arizona Diamondbacks’ summer league team.Houston has yet to officially name a GM, but the group around him is already taking shape.—Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter—