Tony DeFrancesco brings experience to 51s

In seven years with the Houston Astros’ organization, Tony DeFrancesco saw the team tear everything down and build it up again from the ground.

That started in the minor leagues.

DeFrancesco, the new manager of the 51s, led the Fresno Grizzlies to a Pacific Coast League and Triple-A championship in 2015.

Two years later, the Astros were World Series champions.

He’s hoping to see something similar in New York.

“I had a lot of success with Oakland and Houston developing (players). (Carlos) Correa, (Jose) Altuve and (George) Springer all came through at some point (and) they all succeeded,” DeFrancesco said. “I’m hoping this next wave will get the Mets back to the World Series again, and it’s my job to go out there, whether it’s hot or not, and make sure the guys are ready to play every night.”

The 51s are coming off of a PCL-worst 56-86 record and after the season, the entire coaching staff was let go after Mets general manager Sandy Alderson expressed displeasure with the preparation of players who had been called up.

Alderson, who hired DeFrancesco for his first coaching job in the early 1990s in Oakland, chose DeFrancesco to replace Pedro Lopez, who was reassigned within the Mets’ organization. Pitching coach Glenn Abbott switched jobs with Frank Viola, coming up from Double-A Binghamton, and hitting coach Joel Chimelis was brought in from the Astros’ organization.

The Mets also added a new head trainer to replace Deb Iwanow

DeFrancesco said he worked with Abbott in Oakland for a number of years and has been around Chimelis when the two were both with the Astros.

“I think it’ll be an easy adjustment for us,” he said. “I’m sure the trainers and strength coach, we’re all going to get along fine.”

Earlier this month, he went to Port St. Lucie, Florida, and met with Alderson and some of the major league staff, among others, to try to get on the same page.

And he’s devoted some of his offseason to learning his new organization.

“I’ve got to be open- minded to evaluating players on what I see right away, not what I hear about reports or anything,” he said.

DeFrancesco will head to Florida when Mets pitchers and catchers report to Port St. Lucie on Feb. 12.

While it will take some time for the 51s’ roster to fall into place, it seems as if DeFrancesco, a native New Yorker, has started to settle in place in Las Vegas.

“I love coming here. I’ve been coming here for 15 years,” he said. “Usually four days is probably nough when you’re the visiting team. You try to work some wins out of here but spending some offseasons coming up here and going to the shows and enjoying some of the area, I always liked it.”

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Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.