After a very disappointing 2025 season that included the mid-May firing of former AL Manager of the Year Brandon Hyde, the Orioles have found his permanent replacement.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Baltimore is finalizing a deal to hire Cleveland coach Craig Albernaz as its next field manager. The 42-year-old spent 2025 as the Guardians’ associate manager after serving as their bench coach the previous season and as San Francisco’s bullpen coach from 2020-23. Albernaz began his coaching career in Tampa Bay’s farm system in 2015 and served as a minor league manager in 2017 and 2018 before becoming the Rays’ minor league field coordinator in 2019.
Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias parted ways with Hyde after a disastrous 15-28 start on May 17 and appointed Tony Mansolino to interim manager for the remainder of the season. While Mansolino guided Baltimore to an improved 60-59 mark the rest of the way to garner consideration for the permanent job, Elias ultimately chose to go outside the organization.
A Massachusetts native, Albernaz will now be entrusted to lead a young core of position players that underperformed in 2025, which was a major factor in the Orioles finishing in last place in the AL East after qualifying for the postseason the previous two years. Though far from a household name in Baltimore, Albernaz was in the mix for multiple managerial jobs last offseason and was a finalist for the Cleveland job before being hired as part of Stephen Vogt’s staff. Albernaz had also recently interviewed for Washington’s current opening.
Much like Hyde, Albernaz played in the minors as a catcher, but he never reached the majors.
