When the Orioles finalized their 2022 coaching staff on Tuesday, they made four changes. Two were the shifting of titles and roles for holdover coaches Fredi González and José Hernandez. Two were the previously reported hiring of Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller as co-hitting coaches.
Their other five coaches — pitching coaches Darren Holmes and Chris Holt, catching coach Tim Cossins and base coaches Anthony Sanders and Tony Mansolino return.
What is most striking is how little major league playing experience the coaches have.
González, like manager Brandon Hyde, has long been in the majors as a coach and manager, but neither played in the majors.
As a player, González was in the New York Yankees’ minor league system when Buck Showalter was a rising young manager, but he never played above Double-A before beginning his managerial career in 1990.
Playing in the major leagues has never been a prerequisite for managing the Orioles. Their two most successful managers, Showalter and Earl Weaver, never played in the majors. Nor did Hyde, Ray Miller, Cal Ripken Sr. or Dave Trembley.
Other than Hernández, who played 15 major league seasons and was an All-Star with Milwaukee in 2002, and Holmes, who pitched 13 seasons in the majors with eight teams, including five games for the Orioles in 2000, there isn’t much major league or, in some cases, minor league experience among the coaches.
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Sanders played just 13 major leagues games, three for Toronto in 1999 and 10 for Seattle in 2000 and 2001.
None of the others played in the majors.
The two new batting coaches, Borgschulte and Fuller, have almost no pro playing experience. Fuller, who was an undrafted free agent by Arizona, played 32 games for the Diamondbacks’ Rookie League team in 2012.
Borgschulte’s playing career ended in college. He has spent four seasons as a minor league coach in the Minnesota Twins organization.
Holt pitched in 15 games for the Pirates’ Williamsport team in Short Season A in 2002. Mansolino played four seasons in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia organizations and three more years of Independent ball. Cossins played seven seasons in the Texas, Yankees and Montreal organizations and another season of Independent ball.
Major league or years of minor league experience no longer seems to be a requirement for coaching, and that’s not just with the Orioles.
The San Francisco Giants, who won a major league high 107 games in 2021, list 14 coaches on their website. Only four played in the majors, and none of their three hitting coaches did.
Justin Viele, who’s listed as their hitting coach, was a 37th-round draft choice of the Orioles in 2013 and played two seasons in the low minors for them.
Other successful teams have more experienced coaches.
The world champion Atlanta Braves, managed by longtime minor league manager Brian Snitker have accomplished coaches, some of whom had long major league careers. Among the Braves’ coaches are longtime major league shortstop and onetime Colorado manager Walt Weiss, first base coach Eric Young Sr., third base coach Ron Washington, hitting coach Kevin Seitzer and pitching coach Rick Kranitz,
All had long major league careers except for Kranitz, who has spent many years as an accomplished pitching coach, including a stint with the Orioles.
The Orioles’ coaches, particularly the new hitting coaches, are younger. Borgschulte and Fuller are 31 and both are proficient with new technology and analytics. The coaches they replaced were more traditional coaches who shunned the new tools.
Don Long, who was let go by the Orioles after the 2021 season, was a longtime minor league player, coach and manager who was the hitting coach for Pittsburgh and Cincinnati before joining the Orioles. Long was comfortable with new technology and received praise from Trey Mancini.
Ryan Mountcastle and Cedric Mullins both had excellent seasons in 2021, but too many others didn’t.
The Orioles ranked 10th in the American League with a .239 batting average and were near the bottom in every other important offensive category, so it wasn’t a surprise that Long was fired.
Over the years, some of the most acclaimed Oriole coaches had little or no major league experience.
Miller, who in addition to his two years of managing, had three iterations as pitching coach, never reached the majors. Dave Wallace, who had three successful seasons under Showalter from 2014-2016, pitched in 13 major league games with a 7.08 ERA.
When Chris Davis or other members of the Orioles in the Showalter era went into a slump, fans would belittle former hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh, who was with the team from 2015-2018.
“How can a .215 hitter coach major leaguers?”
My response was always that success as a major league hitter had no bearing on whether Coolbaugh could coach.
The Orioles are hoping that the lack of experience for Borgschulte and Fuller won’t be a detriment.
Note: The Orioles signed right-handed pitcher Matt Vogel to a minor league contract. He pitched two seasons in the Tampa Bay organization, and has pitched in Independent ball since 2018.
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I think both the new hitting coaches will be good hires. They both come from organization that can develop hitters in the twins and the cardinals I believe. I think we should get Hyde a better bench coach. Fredi González is terrible. If he’s helping Hyde make late game decisions then he’s terrible at it. And not let’s forget the braves collapsed under him. I also noticed that with all the new hirings and promotions in the front office they seem to be focused on pitching and strategy. Is this too help guys like Kremer better transition to the majors or is it more about how we go about pitching to hitters so we don’t get our heads bashed in every night.
2 pitching coaches and 2 hitting coaches. Hey whatever it takes. Borgschulte coaching Rutcshman and Kjersted--wow can't wait to see how can flub those names up. Who says the O's aren't aggressive--there's been more changes to coaching and the front office than all of free agency in MLB put together. Love the process(whatever it is).
I do think this is another way for the Grinchelos clan to save money. New ownership is the only way to save this organization!
Coolbaugh batted .209, not .215!
Incorrect, Buzz, Coolbaugh’s lifetime average was .215.
So one point lower than Mendoza and Flaherty!
Incorrect, Buzz, they each batted .215.
He lost a point, it was .216 the last time I checked!
Younger people work for less money. That practice has been going on for years in broadcasting at local TV outlets. There's not a lot of gray on those newscasters. The entertainment industry has certainly shifted to the inexperienced. We have fewer and fewer actors on TV shows. Instead, we're exposed to whatever pretty boys and girls they can find to be so-called "reality stars". It's all about the bottom line. As long as money is being made, why in the world would you want to overspend?
If anyone has time on their hands and is moved to do it (I have neither the time nor the inclination),it would be very interesting to see the salary differential between the coaching staff from Hyde’s first season to what it is now. And while you’re at it, whoever is ambitious enough to check on that, it would also be interesting to know how much difference in salary there is between the tv and radio talent from Hyde’s first season to now as well.
I thought I'd pick on one organization's staff to see if they hired youngsters for the coaching staff. Naturally, I picked Tampa since they have a shoestring budget. Their youngest is 44 and one is pushing 60. At least they're all old enough to run for President.
You know I've been thinking these past 3 years, that the trouble all along has been that we just have not had good coaches! I applaud Mr. Elias' latest actions, and fully expect our win total to double this year as a result.
Drink Mug Root Beer
;)….go O’s…
Drink Beer!
Drink Swiss Premium tea. If it’s not sold where you live then order it.
Rich, other than a mention of Hyde never playing in the major leagues, there was no mention of him in this article which basically describes a cleaning of the house with the team's coaching staff. As a result, I have to assume that these changes were not of his doing. These new young coaches are not his guys so to speak. Shouldn't they be HIS guys? Isn't that the normal procedure for filling a coaching staff .. a manager getting a large voice in choosing the staff?
So I ask you, what kind of GM/boss does this kind of thing? Elias has hung Hyde out to dry for 3+ seasons and has now all but emasculated his manager for all the world to see by hiring what seems to be an entirely new coaching staff without apparently, much if any, involvement from Hyde.
I'm sure all the Elias apologists will argue that Elias was upfront and that Hyde knew what he was getting into when he took the job, but I have a hard time believing that "a long hard' rebuild (those are the words I remember) would as long and hard as what'b been shoved down the manager's throat for 3+ years now. Hyde has been Elias' whipping boy this whole time. The skapegoat. Someone to go out there in front of the cameras (Elias sure as hell doesn't) and try to explain why his team was losing games in galactic proportions. And here's something else I don't know, but I'm willing to bet Hyde is being paid league minimum for managers. ((if there is such a thing)
Smart...shrewd....ingenuous....heroic. Words I've read right here describing Elias. Really? How would YOU like to work for the guy? I guess in order to be a manager of a MLB franchise I would, but that doesn't make our GM any less the snake oil salesman than he is.
Well said Boog…go O’s…
The general manager/manager relationship has changed over the past 10 years, Ken. Managers have less influence than they used to. More experienced managers, Tony LaRussa, Joe Maddon, Dusty Baker, and if he returns to managing with the Mets, Buck Showalter have influence, but most managers don't have complete say over coaches. Buck had unusually high influence when he managed the Orioles, maybe more than any other manager in baseball, and the Elias/Hyde relationship is not unusual.
I know Brandon knew Tim Cossins and Fredi Gonzalez prior to arriving with the Orioles, and I'm sure he was involved in the interviewing process, but things are different around baseball. The front offices everywhere, even the Yankees, Dodgers, Giants, Cubs and Red Sox has far more power than the manager.
So many wise words. You knocked it out of the park!
Whose wise words were wisest? Rich’s? Or Boogs?
Which man knocked it out of the park?
Rick Wise?!
Cheaper. They went cheaper. Not younger or less experienced. Just like everything else they do.