Questions about Orioles’ hitting, pitching coaches

Whenever things go south for the Orioles, fans call for firing of pitching and hitting coaches. It’s hard to say if they’re at fault, but when the team’s batting average fell 15 points from .250 to .235 and its OPS dropped from .751 to .699, someone was going to be held accountable.

Cody Asche, who was named the hitting coach for 2025 after the departure of co-hitting coaches Ryan Fuller and Matt Borgschulte, moved on to Detroit. Assistant hitting coaches Tommy Joseph and Sherman Johnson won’t be back, either.

Asche will be the Tigers’ assistant hitting coach and Johnson will be the Chicago White Sox’s minor league hitting coordinator. Fuller is now Chicago’s director of hitting.

Dustin Lind, who was Philadelphia’s assistant hitting coach, will be the Orioles’ new lead hitting coach, and for now there’s been no word on the future of pitching coach Drew French, assistant pitching coach Ryan Klimek and bullpen coach Mitch Plassmeyer.

Both Klimek and Plassmeyer attended the introductory press conference for new manager Craig Albernaz last Tuesday.

The Orioles’ team ERA rose from 3.94 in 2024 to 4.62, but there were extenuating circumstances.

Only one of the possible top five starters—Dean Kremer—spent the entire season with the team. Two others — Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells — started a combined 10 times. Grayson Rodriguez didn’t pitch at all.

President of baseball operations Mike Elias will be looking for additional starters, and when he goes to Las Vegas this week for the General Managers Meetings, the search will begin in earnest.

Charlie Morton had an awful start to his time in Baltimore, and Zach Eflin, who’s now a free agent, was on the injured list three times before having back surgery.

But there was a bright spot, and that was Trevor Rogers’ emergence as a top-tier starter. Rogers, who began the season on the injured list with a knee injury and didn’t join the rotation until mid-June, had a sparkling 1.81 ERA in 18 starts. He also had a 5.5 WAR (Wins Above Replacement), which ranked fourth among American League pitchers, trailing only Detroit’s Tarik Skubal, Boston’s Garrett Crochet and Houston’s Hunter Brown.

Rogers should receive some down-ballot Cy Young votes. That announcement comes on Wednesday night.

French should get some praise for Rogers’ improvement. When he arrived in Baltimore after last year’s trade deadline, Rogers had a 7.11 ERA in four starts and was sent to Triple-A Norfolk.

French also should get credit for the second-half performance of the starters. After the trade deadline, starters had a 3.90 ERA in August and 3.74 in September, their two strongest months of the season.

French also had to work with a patchwork bullpen in the last two months of the season. The trades of Bryan Baker, Seranthony Domínguez, Andrew Kittredge and Gregory Soto, and the loss of closer Félix Bautista, left the team with an inexperienced bullpen.

September’s bullpen ERA of 4.10 was the second lowest of the season, and that’s with Keegan Akin as its closer.

There were strong performances from Kade Strowd (1.71 ERA in 25 games) and Rico Garcia (2.84 in 20 games). Dietrich Enns had a 3.14 ERA.

Akin and Strowd will be back. Enns and Garcia signed new deals with the team, and Kittredge was reacquired shortly after Albernaz’s press conference ended.

Since 2011, the Orioles have had eight pitching coaches and only two, Dave Wallace (2014-2016) and Chris Holt (2021-2023), were with the team for as long as three seasons.

If French returns, he’ll equal Wallace and Holt, whom he succeeded.

The Orioles also have had frequent turnover in batting coaches. Lind has been credited with working well with Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber, who led the National League with 56 home runs, 132 RBIs while walking 108 times. Even though Schwarber struck out 197 times and hit only .240, he had a .365 on-base percentage and .563 slugging percentage, good for a .928 OPS.

He’ll have much work to do with catcher Adley Rutschman, whose numbers have fallen off dramatically since the All-Star break in 2024, and outfielder Colton Cowser, who hit just .196 and struck out 128 times in 92 games.

It will be interesting to see if French returns and if the rotation and bullpen can help the Orioles become contenders again in 2026.

Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.