Space Cowboys have Announced Their 2025 Coaching Staff
SUGAR LAND, TX – In conjunction with the Houston Astros, the defending Triple-A National Champion Sugar Land Space Cowboys have announced their coaching staff for the 2025 season.
The staff will include manager Mickey Storey, pitching coach Sean Buchanan, hitting coach Joe Thurston, development coach Wladimir Sutil, head athletic trainer Takeaki Ando, strength and conditioning coach Sam Knox, dietitian Tara Boening and mental health coach Justin McKissick.
Storey continues as the only manager in Sugar Land’s affiliated history, returning to lead Sugar Land for his fifth season in charge. Storey was named the 2024 Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year after guiding Sugar Land to a 93-56 record, the most wins in a single season in the Pacific Coast League since 1981 and the only team to win at least 90 games in Minor League Baseball in 2024. Sugar Land then swept the Pacific Coast League Championship Series 2-0 over Reno, before winning the Triple-A National Championship over the Omaha Storm Chasers at Las Vegas Ballpark. In his four seasons in charge of Sugar Land, Storey is 302-275 in the regular season and owns a career 467-390 record after managing Triple-A Round Rock in 2019 and Single-A Quad Cities in 2018. Storey’s teams have qualified for the postseason or won a division in four of his six seasons as a manager. Originally a 31st round selection by the Oakland Athletics in the 2008 draft as a right-handed pitcher, Storey pitched in the Major Leagues with the Astros (2012) and Toronto Blue Jays (2013) during his professional career.
Buchanan joins the Space Cowboys for the first time in 2025, becoming the third pitching coach in the teams’ affiliated history. He worked as the pitching coach for the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks in 2024, leading a Hooks’ pitching staff that finished tied for third for the lowest batting average against (.231) in the Texas League. Following the regular season, Buchanan worked as the pitching coach for the Surprise Saguaros in the Arizona Fall League, helping the Saguaros win a league-best 18 games and a berth in the AFL Championship Game while registering the second lowest ERA (5.24) in the league. Buchanan previously served as the pitching coach for the Asheville Tourists in 2023 and joined the Astros organization in 2022 working as the pitching coach for the Florida Complex League Astros Blue. Before working in the Astros’ organization, Buchanan was a coach in the collegiate ranks for eight seasons with stops at Lehigh University, Albright College, DeSales University, Ave Maria University, Bard College, Dutchess Community College and SUNY New Paltz.
Thurston comes to the Astros organization after spending the last three seasons (2022-24) as the hitting coach for the Philadelphia Phillies Triple-A Team, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Lehigh had one of their best offenses in franchise history in 2023, setting franchise records in homers (213), runs scored (857), stolen bases (180), walks (697), OBP (.360), SLG (.462) and OPS (.822). Prior to joining the Phillies organization, Thurston spent five seasons in the Seattle Mariners organization, serving as the hitting coach for Double-A Arkansas in 2021 after being a part of the Major League coaching staff for Seattle in 2020 as the teams’ first base coach. He was the hitting coach for short-season Everett in 2019 and got his start in the Mariners organization as the hitting coach for High-A Modesto in 2017 and 2018. Thurston began his coaching career with the Cincinnati Reds organization, working for one season as a coach. As a player, the left-handed hitter enjoyed a 16-year career, playing in the big leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Phillies, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins across seven seasons. He has previous experience in the Pacific Coast League, playing for Las Vegas (2002-05) and New Orleans (2011). Thurston appeared at Constellation Field as a player when he was a member of the York Revolution in the Atlantic League in 2012 against the Sugar Land Skeeters in their inaugural campaign.
Sutil enters his fourth season as the development coach, first-base coach and primary baserunning coach for the Space Cowboys. Sugar Land is coming off a 2024 season in which they stole a franchise-record 194 bases, tied for the second most steals in the Pacific Coast League in 2024. Sutil also oversaw the Space Cowboys defense in 2023 when Sugar Land posted their highest fielding percentage (.981) in franchise history and the second-best fielding percentage in the Pacific Coast League that year. Prior to joining the Space Cowboys, Sutil was a manager for the Astros in the Gulf Coast League/Florida Complex League from 2017 through 2021 and served as a coach in that league in 2015. He started as a coach with the Astros at Advanced Rookie Greeneville in 2014 and was back with Greeneville in 2016. As a player, Sutil had a 10-year playing career as an infielder, spending eight seasons in the Astros’ system and one year in the Diamondbacks’ system before finishing his career in the Atlantic League in 2013. He is the Corpus Christi Hooks all-time hits leader (341) and is second all-time in stolen bases (69), having stolen 20 bases in five of his eight seasons in the Astros’ minor league system.
Ando returns to the Space Cowboys as the head athletic trainer for a second consecutive season. He previously worked as the head athletic trainer for the Corpus Christi Hooks in 2022 and 2023 and was with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers in 2021. He was scheduled to be the athletic trainer for the Gulf Coast League Astros in 2020 prior to the cancellation of the Minor League season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ando received his bachelor in sports science from Waseda University in Saitama, Japan and then obtained his master’s degree in athletic training at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Knox comes back to Sugar Land for a second straight year after working as the strength and conditioning coach for the Triple-A champion Space Cowboys in 2024. Knox worked in the same role with High-A Asheville in 2022 and 2023 and started with the Astros organization in 2021, helping with the Florida Complex League and assisting with instructionals during the offseason. A native of Lake Jackson, TX, Knox played college baseball at Cisco Junior College before working as a personal trainer from 2009 to 2016. He received his degree in kinesiology from the University of Houston and worked at Dynamic Sports Training in Houston from 2016 to 2021.
For the first time in franchise history, the Space Cowboys will open their season at home when they will begin their campaign as the defending Triple-A National Champions by hosting the Oklahoma City Comets on Friday, March 28 at 7:05 pm. Prior to the start of the season, the Space Cowboys will take on the Houston Astros for two exhibition games at Daikin Park on March 24 and 25. 2025 Season Memberships, including Full and Partial Season membership plans, can be purchased online here.
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