Craig Albernaz to manage Orioles: youthful leader tapped to reset Baltimore after last-place finish

The Orioles have chosen Craig Albernaz as their next manager, turning to a rising communicator and strategist to guide a clubhouse that stumbled in 2025. Albernaz, 42, turns 43 on October 30. He arrives from Cleveland, where he served as associate manager this season following a year as bench coach. The move caps Baltimore’s search following the early-season dismissal of Brandon Hyde and a lengthy interim stretch under Tony Mansolino.

Why the Orioles chose Craig Albernaz

Albernaz brings a profile that has gained traction across modern dugouts: catcher’s brain, analytics fluency, and a reputation for relationship-first leadership. Before his time in Cleveland, he spent four seasons on a West Coast staff as bullpen/catching coach and previously climbed the player-development ladder in Tampa Bay, earning a minor league Manager of the Year award in 2018. That path—player development roots, game-planning acumen, and bilingual clubhouse comfort—maps cleanly to Baltimore’s needs after a 2025 slide.

The Orioles’ roster still features young stars and controllable pitching, but the club finished last in the AL East with 75 wins. Organizationally, that combination often points to a manager who can tighten daily processes, improve run prevention on the margins, and nurture emerging leaders without stifling their initiative. Albernaz’s background suggests a focus on catching/defense, game-calling, and situation-driven baserunning—areas where incremental gains can swing tight division games.

What Craig Albernaz’s arrival means for the clubhouse

Players describe Albernaz as detail-obsessed without being overbearing. Expect:

• Catching and pitching synergy: More individualized pregame plans for battery mates, with emphasis on sequencing, swing-path scouting, and late-count options.

• Defensive precision: Cleaner positioning and communication, particularly on bunt defenses, cut-and-relay trees, and holding runners—hallmarks of his earlier coordinating roles.

• Transparent roles: Clarity on leverage assignments in the bullpen and pathways for bench players to impact games, reducing the ambiguity that can fester during losing skids.

This is especially pertinent for a club built around homegrown talent. The directive isn’t to overhaul, but to reconnect the day-to-day to the long-term plan: develop, compete, and avoid the spiral that can follow one down year.

The résumé behind the hire

• Playing days: Former minor league catcher known for arm strength and pitcher handling.

• Development track: Managed at lower levels and helped run complex-league and High-A operations, blending on-field teaching with data workflows.

• Big-league stops: Four seasons overseeing catchers and the bullpen for a National League club, then a rapid rise in Cleveland from bench coach (2024) to associate manager (2025). That associate role broadened his portfolio into challenge strategy, staff coordination, and in-game decision modeling.

The connective tissue through those roles is communication. Albernaz has been praised for making advanced scouting digestible and for meeting players where they are—veteran or rookie, English- or Spanish-speaking, data-native or feel-first.

Key Orioles questions Albernaz must tackle

1) Stabilize a thin middle-innings bridge.
Baltimore’s relief corps needs more dependable links from the starter to the late-inning anchors. Expect tighter pairing of relievers by swing type and platoon profile, and more aggressive matchup hunting in the fifth and sixth.

2) Rebound on defense.
The fundamentals dipped in 2025. Cutting extra bases and shoring up exchange times can buy outs without needing new personnel.

3) Re-energize the running game.
With athleticism on the roster, selectively pushing first-to-third and timing steals off pitchers’ habits could add a handful of runs over a season—often the difference in the AL East.

4) Keep the young core trending up.
Player meetings that blend video, biomechanics cues, and simple goals should help avoid the sophomore-and-beyond stagnation that crept in this year.

Staff construction and front-office alignment

Hiring the manager is step one; building the right staff is step two. Albernaz’s history suggests he’ll value a catching coach with development chops, an infield coordinator fluent in both metrics and footwork, and a game-strategy assistant who can translate real-time insights without noise. The front office will remain deeply involved, but the tone from the dugout needs to be consistent: data as a tool, not a crutch.

What success looks like in Year 1

Baltimore doesn’t need a wholesale identity change. It needs:

• Cleaner run prevention (top-10 defensive efficiency, reduced extra bases allowed).

• Middle-relief stability (three relievers trusted in leverage, not just one).

• Incremental baserunning gains (positive net on steals and advancement).

• A .500 floor with divisional competitiveness that keeps late-summer games meaningful.

Those are achievable markers that align with Albernaz’s strengths and the roster’s arc.

Craig Albernaz gives the Orioles a modern dugout leader with development empathy and tactical rigor—an organizer who can turn a talented but sputtering club back toward contention. Baltimore didn’t choose a celebrity name; it chose a builder. If the everyday details tighten as expected, 2025’s step back can look like a detour rather than a direction. The work starts now.