They don’t begin their season until June, but the Houston Astros’ short season Class A Tri-City ValleyCats will hit the ground running under the reins of Ozney Guillen, the youngest son of longtime major league player and manager Ozzie Guillen.

As the parent Astros put the finishing touches on Spring Training 2019, Ozzie’s son will lead an impossibly young coaching staff, the Houston front office announced in late January.

It was Guillen, the elder, who was at the helm of the Chicago White Sox in the Astros’ first World Series appearance in 2005. Ozney was a batboy for Dad’s team and snagged himself a World Series ring. The Sox whitewashed the ‘Stros in a series sweep, the wounds of which only lasted a dozen years, when Houston took the 2017 crown.

Ozzie, a three-time All-Star shortstop, was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1985, and put together a stellar 16-year MLB career, following that with nine years as a manager.

“I’ve gotten great phone calls, but I think that was the greatest,” Ozzie told The Houston Chronicle‘s Chandler Rome recently, hours after Ozney’s appointment by the Astros was made official. “I don’t remember crying when I got good news from baseball, but I did cry when I received this news, when he got the job.

“One of the greatest moments, one of the most exciting moments and the most proud (moments) I’ve ever had is to see when your kids make it happen. You couldn’t be more excited about it.”

The Kids Take Over the Clubhouse

Ozney, himself all of 27 years old, leads an amazingly under-30 clubhouse triumvirate that will seek to replicate the ValleyCats’ 2018 New-York Penn League Championship, their third franchise crown.

Joining Guillen’s Cats’ staff will be two 27-year-olds: Hitting coach Sean Godfrey and pitching coach John Kovalik. All three have baseball playing experience but have fallen short of any MLB time.

Sean Godfrey

Godfrey is a native of New Albany, Indiana, and joins the ValleyCats following a stint as hitting coach at New Albany’s Indiana University Southeast. Godfrey was drafted as an outfielder in the 22nd round of the 2014 MLB Draft out of Ball State by the Atlanta Braves (playing four seasons in their system), and recently wrapped up his pro playing career. He hit a combined .280 in his 213 minor league games.

John Kovalik

Kovalik, born in Aurora, Ohio, spent the last two years as the pitching coach at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. His pitching staff compiled a combined record of 57-39. Kovalik is a 2014 graduate of Slippery Rock and excelled on the mound for The Rock. During his playing career at SRU, Kovalik was a two-time All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) honoree.

Ozney Ernesto Guillen

Ozney Guillen becomes the 10th manager in the ValleyCats’ 17-year history with the Astros, a team that is based in Troy, New York. He’ll take over for Jason Bell, who has been promoted to fundamentals coordinator for the Astros. Bell led Tri-City to a 42-33 record in 2018, capping the year with the NY-Penn League title. Ozney and crew will have their work cut out for them in 2019.

Related: Morgan Ensberg, Chris Holt Lead Former Astros Into Minor League Coaching Jobs

Ozney was chosen by the White Sox in the 22nd round of the 2010 MLB Draft as a senior out of Monsignor Edward Pace High School in Miami Gardens but opted to continue his education. He attended Miami Dade College and Saint Thomas University in Miami, where he continued his collegiate baseball career.

Guillen just wrapped up a five-year pro career in the Independent Leagues and Venezuelan Winter League, his combined OPS only topping out at .690. He spent the 2018 season with the Ottawa Champions of the Can-Am League, as well as with the New Britain Bees of the Atlantic League. This marked the end of his playing career.

“I’m Ready to Teach”

His father, though, wanted to make sure Ozney understood the ramifications of ending his playing days: “Some coaches think they can still play, and that’s not good for the kids or them,” Ozzie said, knowingly. “He was fine. He said, ‘I’m done. I’m ready to teach.’

“After every game, he’d go into my office and ask questions about it,” Ozzie revealed to The Chronicle about the real-life education of little Oz. “Everything through the organization — the good and the bad — he was part of that. He’s been doing that since he was 10 years old, sitting in my office while I talked to the GMs or my players.”

“Hopefully he has some of Ozzie’s personality,” Astros’ GM Jeff Luhnow said with a sly grin shortly after the team’s announcement. “But, he’s going to be great. We’re excited to have him, and everyone that interviewed him thought it was a slam dunk that we should try to hire him.”

As It Should Be, The Last Word Is Dad’s

“He’s not afraid to be around people and talk around people and put it together,” Ozzie said of Ozney, as if trying to convince one of his son’s teachers back in the day.

“He knows how to be a manager off the field, how to talk to Dominican kids, how to talk to Venezuelan kids, how to talk to kids from the South, from North Carolina. He’s been in the game for so long that he has the privilege of knowing how people grow up, and that will help him to go through different players and different cultures.

“If this kid had a job with the White Sox or the [Florida] Marlins, maybe many people in the game would say, ‘Well, he just got this job because his daddy talked to somebody in the organization to get the job,'” Ozzie concluded.

“I feel more proud and pleased that he did it himself in an organization [Houston] that’s going to teach him to get better in the game. Not be so-and-so’s son or say, ‘I’m here because of my daddy or what my name is.’ I like that and feel more proud of that.”

So do the ValleyCats.