![\"Manager](\"https:\/\/www.baltimorebaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27504447_168383409_lowres.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOrioles manager Craig Albernaz\u2019s first staff is nearly complete. There are 11 confirmed coaches, four holdovers and seven newcomers.<\/p>\n
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Third base coach Buck Britton, pitching coach Drew French and his assistants, Ryan Klimek and Mitch Plassmeyer, are back.<\/p>\n
New are bench coach Donnie Ecker, hitting coach Dustin Lind, first base coach Jason Bourgeois, assistant hitting coach Brady North, bullpen coach Hank Conger, infield coach Miguel Cairo and catching coach Joe Singley.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were aggressive in going after people that we really wanted,\u201d Matt Blood, vice president of player and staff development said at last week\u2019s Winter Meetings in Orlando. \u201cWe have a lot of similar philosophy, and so we were able to target who we wanted and we went after them, and we got them, and we\u2019re really excited about this group.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey work really well together. They\u2019re hungry. They\u2019re motivated. They\u2019re player-centered, they\u2019re player-focused. They just want to do good work to help the team do well. We\u2019re excited.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Blood worked closely with Albernaz to make sure the staff jelled, and he raves about what the new manager brings to the Orioles.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is an energy provider,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople really gravitate to his message and his personality. He\u2019s been with a few organizations, and he\u2019s come out of those experiences with a lot of good ideas with how to do things well.<\/p>\n \u201cHis leadership qualities and instincts are really impressive, and it shines through the way he interacts with people. It makes them want to get on board with him. I think he\u2019s going to elevate us in every way. It\u2019s been great working with him so far.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The age and the experience of the staff varies. Cairo, the oldest at 51, played 17 major league seasons for nine teams and served as interim manager for the Chicago White Sox in 2022 and Washington in 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re trying to put a staff together you want diverse skill sets and diverse backgrounds and experiences,\u201d Blood said. \u201cWe have some young people and we\u2019ve got some with a lot more experience.<\/em><\/p>\n We have some that played in the major leagues and some that didn\u2019t. This group because of that is really dynamic and he brings a wealth of knowledge, not just as a player, but also he\u2019s coached all over the place, in minor leagues, major leagues.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been a coordinator, and he\u2019s just like superhuman. Just a really great guy. I think our players are going to love him, but he\u2019s going to be a great resource for Alby, for the rest of our staff. He\u2019s already been motivated talking to our minor league staff. He\u2019s one of these guys that\u2019s kind of like all-in.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Singley comes from the Miami Marlins. At 28, he\u2019s the youngest coach on Albernaz\u2019s staff.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re putting a staff together, you\u2019re looking in a lot of places,\u201d Blood said. \u201cOftentimes you\u2019re more comfortable with people you\u2019re familiar with or that you\u2019ve worked with before. You know what they\u2019re about. You\u2019ve seen them work.<\/p>\n You can trust them a little more. Some of them are connected to him through some of the other places he\u2019s been. He has proven that he is an excellent mind when it comes to the development of catching but also connecting with players and presenting information to players.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s well-regarded in the industry as someone who understands how to present information and how to coach catching. Albernaz really likes the way that he goes about it. He\u2019s a really impressive guy. That one was basically a no-brainer once we got him in the door and got to know him a little better.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Perhaps the most intriguing of all the staff hires came right before Thanksgiving when the Orioles hired Mike Shildt, who managed the San Diego Padres for the last two seasons as well as the St. Louis Cardinals for four seasons.<\/p>\n Shildt, will be the upper-level coordinator of instruction.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat a treat for our minor league coaches and players to have someone with that background and that experience to be there with them and help them see things that just can\u2019t see because they haven\u2019t done what he\u2019s done,\u201d Blood said. \u201cHe\u2019s going to be able to be a teacher and a mentor, and bring a discerning eye. He\u2019s done every level in the game.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAt heart, he is a teacher. That\u2019s what he is, and he loves just development, and helping people improve. When we talked about this opportunity, that\u2019s what really spoke through for him. He wasn\u2019t really interested in trying to be a major league manager or get on a major league staff. He genuinely just wanted to help coach our coaches and our minor league players. He\u2019s given his life to the game if you look at his story. You know who he\u2019s about. A huge plus for our players. He should make us a lot better.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Orioles manager Craig Albernaz\u2019s first staff is nearly complete. There are 11 confirmed coaches, four holdovers and seven newcomers. Third base coach Buck Britton, pitching coach Drew… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":131884,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Craig](\"https:\/\/www.thebanner.com\/resizer\/v2\/EKKR6YSOTBAOHHHZTDECOBNY64.JPG?auth=d66ad9f676db9804bb2ca8fca490cb077b68c201a1c52b1a048f97e7cb94d899\")
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