Astros Interview a Familiar Name for Assistant GM: Oz Ocampo, the Scout Behind Valdez and Javier, Talked With the Club Monday
The front-office rebuild may start with a homecoming - the international-scouting hand behind a generation of Astros arms interviewed Monday, while the GM search runs on its own track with Mike Rizzo.
HOUSTON - The Astros' front-office rebuild turned toward an old friend this week. Oz Ocampo interviewed Monday for an assistant general manager role with the club, MLB Trade Rumors reported Wednesday, citing Francys Romero of BeisbolFR and Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Ocampo is no stranger to the building: he worked for the Astros from 2012 to 2020 and again in 2022, primarily in international scouting and player development.
His Houston record is the argument for bringing him back. McTaggart credits Ocampo with being instrumental in the signings of Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Jose Urquidy, Luis Garcia, Bryan Abreu, Yuli Gurriel and Wilyer Abreu - the international pipeline that powered the club's run. Since then he has held a special assistant role with Pittsburgh, an assistant GM job with Miami from October 2022 until August 2024, and a position with Colorado, which hired him in June.
The interview is one track of a two-track search. General manager Dana Brown was dismissed in August, and his duties have since been split among assistant GMs Charles Cook, Gavin Dickey and Connor Huff and senior advisor Jeff Bagwell, with owner Jim Crane overseeing baseball operations. Separately, the club is interviewing former Nationals executive Mike Rizzo for the general manager job itself, Field Level Media reported Monday via USA Today - Rizzo, the architect of Washington's 2019 championship team that beat Houston. Neither search has produced a hire; both produced interviews this week, and the shape of the 2027 Astros starts with who lands in those chairs.
