Way back in the 2014 draft… back when it used to be 40 rounds, the Astros selected a first baseman out of Southeastern University in the 22nd round. While he played as a player in the system for four seasons, his contributions are still on-going. That player is Bryan Muniz, who has taken a role as hitting coach in the Astros organization.
Following the draft in 2014, Muniz played in Greeneville with the Astros rookie affiliate. His best season came in 2016 when he was playing for High-A Lancaster. The Florida native hit .274 with 13 homers, 74 runs batted in in 113 games. That season gave Muniz some of his best professional memories too.
“Definitely clinching in Lancaster in High-A. Had a couple games left in the season and just rallying with everybody. Definitely the clubhouse after that, was probably one of the most memorable moments of my career,” Muniz said. He also mentioned some of the memorable conversations he had with coach Josh Bonifay noting “it’s all about development.”
The next season Muniz would play with Corpus Christi, playing in 32 games, before he was released. But the Astros still had interest in keeping Muniz in the organization.
“Once I got let go, I was (asked) if I wanted to be a hitting coach in the DR (Dominican Republic),” Muniz Said. “I thought about but I had just got let go and I wanted to kind of see where my career went to but nothing amounted to it. (I) just went back to West Palm, did lessons,” Muniz added.
“I did want to coach, I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to coach in the professional world. But I was coaching high school and I wanted to get to coaching college baseball, but skipped that step. I ran into JB (Josh Bonifay) and he said ‘hey we are looking for a development coach’ and I spoke to my wife and my wife said it’s a good time to get back into it so I did it, and here I am,” Muniz said.
Something that stood out about the situation was how he was immediately offered to come back and coach after being released. That doesn’t happen to everyone and was really an indictment on his character and love for the game.
“I was always a student of the game. I tried to always ask questions… I was probably that annoying player that always asked why. It wasn’t questioning the coach, it was more understanding,” Muniz said. “I truly wanted to understand to help myself move up in the system or help anyone else that might need it. Looking back at it now, I’m definitely thankful for every time I asked why because it has helped me out now,” Muniz added.
Technology in the baseball has quickly advanced, especially over the last 5-10 years. When Muniz was playing minor league baseball, the data was there but not always accessible. Now, players are getting the immediate feedback after every swing.
“I didn’t really get to see too much of data back when I played. That was one of the big things. We’re a little bit more open to it now and letting the players know. We have a really good understanding of the data we have.. there is some data that is more for us than them, but at the same time we are pretty much an open book,” Muniz said. “We let them know, we share EVs (exit velocities), I didn’t know my EV when I played. I knew I hit it hard but there was really no immediate come inside and check our data. It helps the players because they know they can get immediate feedback.. and having it at their fingertips is really helpful for their development,” Muniz added.
In baseball, there are many different ways to look at hitting, from a coaching standpoint. Work counts, be aggressive, opposite field, sit pitches.. the list goes on. Muniz coaches players to be aggressive.
“I’m a big aggressive guy. If I had to say what my philosophy is, it’s really on sights. I’m trying to tunnel someone. Trying to stick to right center. If they are late, I’ll tell them to push their sights over to left center, that way you can get the head out a little bit more, but being aggressive is one of the big things,” Muniz said.
“We don’t want to fall behind in the counts. Even if it’s a breaking ball in zone, it’s all about game planning. You swing at a breaking ball first pitch, odds are the catcher and the pitcher are looking at it like.. he is probably sitting on it. So now you can eliminate one of those pitches next pitch. At the end of the day, pitchers have to throw over the plate so not giving them any free strikes is kind of my thing,” Muniz added.
But he also knows coaching styles have to differ depending on the player. Muniz said he really learned this from hitting coach Joel Chimelis in Quad Cities. “He didn’t cookie cut me, he let me be myself and that helped understand the pros and cons of the ‘cookie cutting’ kind of mentality. Understand there are different swings throughout, everybody is different. There are different sizes, different arm lengths, there are different swings,” Muniz said.
On his philosophy of being aggressive, Muniz had a motto as he went up to the plate.
“My motto when I stood in the box in the box was – I’m not here for a long time, I’m here for a good time – I had good swing decisions because I was spitting on spin early, so I was just hunting fastball. I always had really good control of the zone because I was looking for one pitch and one pitch only, and a lot of times when they threw me a first pitch fastball it was primarily in the zone and that was what I was ambushing,” Muniz said.
Now coaching in High-A Asheville, Muniz got his professional start coaching at the rookie level Florida Complex League. These two leagues are completely different. The FCL has a lot of young players, anywhere between 17-19 years old just breaking into professional baseball. High-A has more of the 21-23 year old players who have played in college or been in the system for a few years. He knows there is a difference in how you coach them.
“Just not being super hands on. You have the young guys who are 18-19 year old in the FCL that are just kind of growing into their own body. There are a lot of things that down in the FCL we are trying to harp on mechanically. When you get to a place like this, a lot of these guys’ mechanics are there or really close to it where you don’t really spend too much time on mechanics as you would in the FCL. But you do prioritize a lot more game planning here,” Muniz said.
“Here, the mechanics are there so it’s more timing or pitch selection. Mechanics are what’s going to get you good swing decisions, put the bat on the ball and that’s whats going to get you into Fayetteville. Here we are trying to get them to Corpus Christi where there is better pitching, more top prospects. Mechanically a lot of guys are there but it’s more about pitch selection, understanding where to tunnel in order to allow the pitch selection to work,” Muniz added.
The Asheville roster to start the season had Drew Gilbert, Joey Loperfido, Zach Dezenzo and Kenedy Corona. Within a few weeks, all four of them were promoted to Corpus Christi, due to them excelling at the plate. As expected, the offense took a hit for a bit and the win-loss record reflected that.
“At the end of the day our goal here is to move them up, we want them to be big leaguers, we want them to win games at Minute Maid. So, doing everything possible here to continue to move them up is our main goal. All we can control is development, pitch selection, swing decisions, contact, stuff that is not measured on the box score. So continuing to press development is really our main goal here,” Muniz added.
Muniz also mentioned one thing that really stood out… despite being a player himself and hitting homers.. he said it is more rewarding for him when he gives advice to a player and it helps them succeed rather than the feeling he got when he did well in the box. This can tell you where he is at as a coach and a leader in the Astros organization.
The Astros have built a winning organization. They have been the best organization in Major League Baseball for last 7-8 years, and putting the right people in place in the minor league system, like coach Bryan Muniz, will continue to ensure they are pumping out prospects to keep helping the big league club.
