Brad Ausmus is going home to Houston.

The Astros are hiring the New York Yankees bench coach as their new manager, according to reports on Wednesday.

Ausmus, 57, spent 10 of his 18 big league seasons catching for Houston. He replaces Joe Espada, whose contract was not renewed after the season.

A familiar face in Houston

Ausmus caught for the Astros in 1997 and 1998 and again from 2001 to 2008. He played alongside Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell, who is now a senior adviser to owner Jim Crane.

This job has been on his radar for a while. Ausmus interviewed to be the Astros' manager in 2020 and for their general manager job in 2022.

New general manager Randy Flores also talked to Albert Pujols about the opening before settling on Ausmus.

His third shot as a manager

Ausmus managed the Detroit Tigers from 2014 to 2017 and the Los Angeles Angels in 2019. He has a career record of 386-422.

He has worked as Aaron Boone's bench coach in New York since 2024.

What he inherits

Houston went 81-81 this season and still won the American League West. It was the club's fifth division title in six years. The Astros were the first team without a winning record to make the playoffs in a full season.

The Chicago White Sox then swept them in the wild-card round.

Yordan Alvarez won the AL batting title at .316 with 42 home runs and 106 RBIs. Injuries hit the rest of the roster hard. Carlos Correa did not play after May 4. Ace Hunter Brown missed more than three months.