Astros Interview Oz Ocampo For Assistant General Manager Role

The Astros are reshaping their front office and the new look might include an old friend. Francys Romero of BeisbolFR reports today that Oz Ocampo interviewed for a job with the club. Specifically, Ocampo interviewed for an assistant general manager role and that interview took place on Monday, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Ocampo has a long history with the Astros, as he worked for the club from 2012 to 2020 and then again in 2022, primarily in the fields of international scouting and player development. As mentioned by McTaggart, he has been credited with being instrumental in many of Houston’s finds on the international market. McTaggart mentions Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, José Urquidy, Luis Garcia, Bryan Abreu, Yuli Gurriel and Wilyer Abreu as some of his finds. That track record was enough to get Ocampo opportunities elsewhere. He got a special assistant gig with the Pirates in 2019. He came back to the Astros after that but then got an assistant general manager job with the Marlins in October of 2022. He was let go from that post in August of 2024. He got a job with the Rockies in June, per Romero. The Houston front office is currently in flux. General manager Dana Brown was dismissed in August. It was announced at that time that Brown’s duties would be split between assistant general managers Charles Cook, Gavin Dickey and Connor Huff, as well as senior advisor Jeff Bagwell, with owner Jim Crane overseeing the baseball operations department. Since then, the club has been looking for a new front office leader. Various names have been connected to that job search, including Brewers assistant general manager Matt Kleine, former Nationals president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo, Rays assistant general manager Kevin Ibach, White Sox assistant general manager Josh Barfield, Cardinals assistant general manager Randy Flores, Royals senior vice president Scott Sharp and Braves assistant general manager Ben Sestanovich. The Astros granted interviews to two of their own assistant GMs, Cook and Dickey. It’s unclear whether the Astros would wait to hire a new front office leader before deciding on Ocampo or if Ocampo’s standing with the club is strong enough for him to get a job before the Astros even decide on a new general manager or president of baseball operations. Photo courtesy of Orlando Ramirez, Imagn Images View Comments (7)