HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros finalized their minor league affiliate coaches for 2012 this past Tuesday and made other news by adding Sig Mejdal and Stephanie Wilka to the front office.
Although general manager Jeff Luhnow didn't play a big role in constructing the minor league staffs, he approved the final list.
Astros great Cesar Cedeno was a name that jumped off the page, as he's going to serve as the hitting coach for Rookie Level Greeneville.
Luhnow has a tremendous amount of respect for Cedeno and stated that he had previously interviewed the four-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove outfielder for a job with the Cardinals.
"The minor league coaching staff decisions were made prior to me joining the team last month," Luhnow said. "I did have a chance to look the list over. In fact, I interviewed Cesar for a job with St. Louis last year. I do have some prior history with him.
"He is an important part of the Astros' history. He is going to be a real good addition to our minor league coaching staff at Greeneville."
Luhnow, who spent the past nine seasons with the Cardinals, utilizes his strong statistical analysis skills to make decisions on scouting.
He's known for his player evaluation methods and building minor league success across the board due to productive drafts.
In order to help execute his plan with the Astros over the long run, Luhnow elected to hire Mejdal as the director of decision sciences.
Also, Wilka was hired as the coordinator of amateur scouting.
Mejdal, 46, worked alongside Luhnow with the Cardinals and recently served as the director of amateur draft analytics for their organization.
He was primarily involved with modeling, analysis, as well as data-driven decision making, while contributing to St. Louis' draft decisions that led to more big leaguers than any other club since 2005.
Wilka, a product of Harvard University, had previously worked for the Dodgers and Red Sox and passed the California Bar Exam in July.
"These are really good additions," Luhnow said. "Sig is a guy I had worked with in St. Louis over the past six years. He was instrumental in helping St. Louis build a lot of the capabilities that we feel need to be addressed here in Houston. St. Louis was gracious enough to allow us to speak with him. We made him an offer, and he accepted it. We have a lot of work to do in Houston.
"I'm glad Sig and Stephanie are here."
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