Brad Mills (baseball manager)

Mills was educated at Exeter Union High School in Exeter, California, College of the Sequoias, and the University of Arizona, where he played college baseball for the Arizona Wildcats. He was drafted in the 17th round by the Montreal Expos.^[1]

Mills reached the major leagues in 1980 and had a .256 batting average with one home run and 12 runs batted in in 106 games played for the Expos (1980–83). He divided his time between Triple-A and the majors in each of those seasons, and sustained a right knee injury that ended his playing career at the age of 29. A full-time left-handed hitter and primarily a third baseman, he also saw time at first base and second base. In 1983, Mills was Nolan Ryan's 3,509th career strikeout victim, lifting Ryan past Walter Johnson as the all-time strikeout leader.

Mills managed eleven seasons in the minors in the Cubs, Rockies and Dodgers organizations (1987–2002),^[2] and also served as an advance scout for the Cubs. Mills was Terry Francona's first-base coach with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1997–2000. In 2003, Mills served as the Montreal Expos bench coach. From 2004 to 2009, Mills was teamed again with Francona when he served as the bench coach for the Boston Red Sox.^[2]

On October 27, 2009, Mills was named manager of the Houston Astros, replacing interim manager Dave Clark; he was hired after Manny Acta declined (he elected to manage the Cleveland Indians).^[2]

The 2010 season, the first under Mills, was a year of transition for the Astros as they traded away franchise stars Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt at the trade deadline, following an underwhelming start, which included an 0–8 start to the season, and 17–34 record through the end of May. However, they would finish the season strong, going 59–52 the rest of the way, and 34–27 after the trade deadline, finishing with 76–86 record, good enough for fourth in the NL Central. This strong finish earned Mills a single third place vote in National League Manager of the Year voting, in which he finished sixth.^[3]

The 2011 season was much less appealing for both Mills and the Astros, as they suffered the franchise's first ever 100-loss season, finishing with a dubious record of 56–106, as the team traded away more former All-Stars to slash payroll such as Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn, opening up opportunites for future All-Stars such as Jose Altuve and J.D. Martinez.

The 2012 season was eerily similar to the previous season as the Astros once again struggled to win games, never rising above .500 after April, and by the summer, rumors spread of a potential firing of Mills. The team had new ownership during the year as Jim Crane purchased the team from previous owner Drayton McLane the previous fall.^[4] Mills was fired on August 18, 2012 along with hitting coach Mike Barnett and first base coach Bobby Meacham.^[5] He was succeeded on an interim basis by Oklahoma City RedHawks manager Tony DeFrancesco, as named by first-year general manager Jeff Luhnow.^[6][7] For his part, Mills stated that some of the responsibility was on his part for how the team did, not wanting to point the finger at anybody.^[8] The team would go on to finish the season with 100+ losses for the second consecutive year.

On October 31, 2012, Mills was hired as the third base coach of the Cleveland Indians, to work with Francona again. Mills was reassigned as the Indians bench coach in 2014. While coaching for the Boston Red Sox under Francona from 2004 to 2009 he was in the same position.^[9] On July 11, 2017, Mills managed the American League All-Star team while Francona dealt with a health issue.^[10]

On July 5, 2020, Mills announced he would be opting out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indians subsequently announced on October 30, 2020 that Mills will not return as bench coach for the 2021 season, but would remain with the club in an undetermined role.^[11]

On November 12, 2024, Mills was hired to serve as the bench coach for the Cincinnati Reds.^[12]

• Career statistics from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
• Brad Mills managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com