The Orioles coaching staff for next season is officially locked in. The team announced the staff for new manager Craig Albernaz in a press release on Friday morning. The names of the coaches had largely
already been reported prior to this announcement, though for some, this represents the first public confirmation of what their job would be on the staff.
These are the returning coaches from the 2025 staff:
- Pitching coach: Drew French (third season)
- Assistant pitching coach: Mitch Plassmeyer (third season)
- Pitching strategy coach: Ryan Klimek (fourth season)
- Third base coach: Buck Britton (second season)
That’s a fair amount of continuity across the pitching group, with only a new addition as the bullpen coach. Hitting coaches and coaches who will be interacting with the defense are a complete replacement with something new. The new guys:
- Manager: Craig Albernaz
- Bench coach: Donnie Ecker
- Hitting coach: Dustin Lind
- Assistant hitting coach: Brady North
- First base coach: Jason Bourgeois
- Bullpen coach: Hank Conger
- Infield coach: Miguel Cairo
- Field coordinator/catching coach: Joe Singley
Three of these new hires have a solid amount of experience as major league players themselves. Cairo is a veteran of 17 major league seasons. He was also the interim manager for the Nationals this past season. Bourgeois played in parts of eight seasons, while the bullpen coach Conger was part of seven MLB seasons. The press release announcing these hires observes that Conger is one of the 62 opposing players to have hit a home run onto Eutaw Street, which he did on June 12, 2013.
All of the new hires have at least some previous experience coaching at the major league level before getting these jobs. Some, including the manager Albernaz, are new to these exact roles, but these are all guys with some experience under their belts at what they will be asked to do. Hopefully that makes for a better mix than what we saw in the 2025 season.
