The Orioles have yet to fill out their coaching staff under new manager Craig Albernaz and formally introduce them. For now, there are 11 confirmed coaches on their 2026 staff. Let’s take a look at them.
President of baseball operations Mike Elias spoke about the search for coaches on November 29th.
“I’m really impressed with the coaches that we’ve landed and the type of guys that he’s been bringing in and the sort of mix and blend of types of coaches that we appear to have on the staff. I think it’s a terrific-looking staff. It’s not done, so I can’t address every nook and cranny of it at this time, but there’s been a lot of media reports about hires and those are accurate. They’ve been putting a lot of good work into it, and I also credit [vice president of player and staff development] Matt Blood and [assistant general manager] Eve Rosenbaum, who have been working with Craig on finding people, lining up interviews, signing a new target, and it’s allowed me to focus on a very busy player market right now. I’ve been helping out, but those three — Craig, Eve and Matt — have been doing a lot of work building staff.”
Holdovers: Buck Britton, Drew French, Ryan Klimek, Mitch Plassmeyer
Britton will be in his second season coaching with the Orioles. He had the title of major league coach until May 17th when Brandon Hyde was dismissed as manager and Tony Mansolino was appointed as the interim manager.
Mansolino ceded his duties as third base and infield coach to Britton.
Britton will continue to coach third base but will no longer coach the infield.
It’s likely that Albernaz will elaborate on the coaches’ responsibilities at the Winter Meetings in Orlando next month.
French will begin his third season as pitching coach.
Klimek is in his fourth season. He was the pitching strategy coach and could return to that role in 2026.
Plassmeyer was in his second season as assistant pitching coach before he was moved to the bullpen to replace Tim Cossins, who was dismissed along with Hyde.
Since the Orioles have hired a new bullpen coach, Plassmeyer could return to his old role for next season.
New coaches: Donnie Ecker (bench), Dustin Lind (hitting), Jason Bourgeois (first base), Miguel Cairo (infield), Hank Conger (bullpen). Joe Singley (field coordinator/catching), Brady North (assistant hitting)
It’s evident that Albernaz has more than the normal amount of influence for first-year managers since five of the seven newcomers have worked with him previously.
Ecker was a hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants while Albernaz was the team’s bullpen coach in 2020 and 2021. He was Texas’ offensive strategist and bench coach from 2022-2024, and was removed as bench coach before the 2025 season and dismissed from his hitting coach duties on May 4th.
Lind was director of hitting and assistant hitting coach with the Giants from 2020-2023, and an assistant hitting coach for Philadelphia in 2024 and 2025.
Bourgeois was a minor league teammate of Albernaz’s with Triple-A Durham in the Tampa Bay organization. He played eight major league seasons as an outfield with the Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee, Houston, Kansas City, the Rays and Cincinnati.
He was the White Sox’s first base and outfield coach in 2024 and 2025.
Conger, a seven-year major league catcher with the Los Angeles Angels, Houston and Tampa Bay, played for the Rays in 2016 when Albernaz was a minor league coach there.
North was a Tampa Bay minor league coach in 2019 when Albernaz was a minor league field coordinator. He was an assistant hitting coach for Tampa Bay for the last four seasons.
Cairo, a longtime major league infielder, who played 17 seasons for nine big league clubs is the staff’s Spanish speaking coach and has big league managing experience. He managed the White Sox for the last 34 games of the 2022 season and the Washington Nationals for the final 72 games in 2025 as interim manager.
While Cairo at 51 is the oldest coach on the team, Singley at 28 is the youngest. He was Florida’s catching coach, assistant catching director and bullpen catcher in 2025. He succeeds Cossins, who’s now with the Astros as field coordinator and catching coach.
Where did the old staff go? Hitting coach Cody Asche went to the Detroit Tigers as an assistant hitting coach. Assistant hitting coach Sherman Johnson joined the Chicago White Sox as the organization’s hitting coordinator. Interim manager Tony Mansolino is Atlanta’s bench coach. Anthony Sanders is the Tigers’ first base coach. Grant Anders has reportedly been hired as Washington’s development coach, the same position he had with the Orioles. Senior advisor John Mabry is the Los Angeles Angels’ assistant hitting coach.
Assistant hitting coach Tommy Joseph, and bench coach Robinson Chirinos have yet to be hired by other teams.
Notes: The Orioles have the fourth-best odds of winning the MLB draft lottery on Tuesday. Their odds are 9.24 percent, trailing the Chicago White Sox, (27.73), Minnesota (22.18) and Pittsburgh (16.81). They’ll pick seventh in Wednesday’s Rule 5 draft.
Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.