Orioles Plan Coaching Continuity Around Craig Albernaz

COACHING STAFF

Baltimore is planning continuity around Craig Albernaz. The next question is how a returning staff turns its familiarity with the roster into better player development and clearer roles.

The Orioles are planning to bring back their major-league coaching staff, according to reporting from the General Managers Meetings. That points toward continuity in the dugout while the club works through its offseason roster decisions.

MASN’s Roch Kubatko reported November 11 that the entire staff had been invited to return. MLB.com separately reports Baltimore expects its coaches back in 2027, with departures for promotions elsewhere still possible.

The distinction is worth preserving: this is a stated plan, not a guarantee that every position will remain unchanged throughout the winter. It gives the Orioles a direction for the staff without closing off developments at other clubs.

Who is on the official staff list?

MLB’s official 2026 coaches listing names Craig Albernaz as manager and Donnie Ecker as bench coach. Drew French is the pitching coach, with Mitch Plassmeyer listed as assistant pitching coach and Ryan Klimek as pitching strategy coach. Hank Conger is the bullpen coach.

On the hitting side, the listing names Dustin Lind as hitting coach and Brady North as assistant hitting coach. Jason Bourgeois is the first-base coach, Buck Britton the third-base coach and Miguel Cairo the infield coach. Joe Singley’s title is field coordinator/catching coach.

Those are the roles in the retrieved 2026 record. They identify the group under discussion; they are not presented here as a newly announced set of 2027 appointments.

What continuity can offer

A returning group can begin its work with an existing understanding of players’ routines, communication preferences and previous instruction. In principle, that can make it easier to carry an offseason development plan into spring training without starting every conversation again.

Our view is that this is the strongest case for continuity: preserving useful knowledge while demanding specific adjustments. Familiarity is valuable when it helps a coach recognize what a player needs. It is less useful if it becomes a reason to repeat a plan that needs revision.

The public staff list alone cannot tell fans how well those relationships work. Nor can the decision to retain coaches establish how much responsibility any one person bears for a team’s results. Players, health, roster construction and execution all belong in that evaluation.

Make the development goals concrete

The useful test is what the Orioles ask this group to accomplish next. A hitter’s plan should identify the problem being addressed and how progress will be assessed. A pitcher’s work should connect a proposed adjustment to his actual repertoire. Defensive instruction should have a clear relationship to the role a player is expected to fill.

These are evaluation standards, not a report of private Orioles instructions. They offer a way to judge continuity by the work it enables rather than treating either staff turnover or staff retention as an achievement on its own.

For fans, the next developments to watch are confirmed appointments or departures, followed by specific accounts of player work. The club’s current plan provides stability. Its value will become clearer when the returning group’s objectives and the roster around it come into focus.

Read our Brandon Young splitter analysis for an example of a development question that calls for evidence beyond a single result.

Sources and reporting context

Roch Kubatko, MASN, November 11, 2026—staff invitation report in the GM Meetings notes. MLB.com GM Meetings report—staff expectation and promotion qualification.

MLB official 2026 Orioles coaches listing—names and titles. Research cutoff: November 11, 2026, 8:02 p.m. Eastern. Analysis and evaluation standards are Birdland Today’s; no private staff conversations are claimed.

Photo: Craig Albernaz managing Bowling Green at Lansing on August 14, 2018, by Joel Dinda, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Cropped image; resized for display. Archival minor-league photograph, not the current Orioles staff or GM Meetings.