Orioles manager Albernaz impressed by team’s athleticism: ‘I love our players that we have now’

ORLANDO—Spring training is still two months away, but Craig Albernaz is already enjoying his new job as Orioles manager.

“I feel great about it,” he said at the Winter Meetings on Monday. “We have a great young core and some really good veteran pieces around it.”

“I love our players that we have now. My only focus is the guys that are in the Orioles’ uniform right now.”

Albernaz has studied tapes of Orioles’ games from this past season but acknowledges it’s early in the learning process.

“As well as anyone could that’s had a month-and-a-half on the job,” he said.

“The strength is the pure athleticism that these guys have and the engines. As far as the weaknesses, you don’t ever want to look at video or film or numbers and say, ‘This is a weakness.’ You want to see the actual guys out there playing the game.”

He likes the Orioles’ new acquisitions. Ryan Helsley will be the closer.

“With someone like that, it’s tough to put guys like that into different spots in the game in the regular season,” he said. “By having a guy in the ninth inning as your closer, it protects us and them from being overused.”

Albernaz thinks Taylor Ward will fit in nicely in the outfield.

“The biggest thing with Taylor is that he plays every day,” he said. “Having a steady presence and someone that posts every day is a big asset for us.”

There are 11 coaches on Albernaz’s staff, four holdovers and seven new hires. He might add one more.

He’s talked with his new players, and he’s been impressed with their outlook.

“It was surprising to me how each player said the same thing,” he said. “It was really cool for me because the self-reflection, the self-awareness was off the charts and no jaded views of the season for them or the team.

“It speaks to the character of these guys and the culture that’s built here that these guys were saying the same thing. It wasn’t personal aspirations. It’s all about the team.”

Last season, the Orioles had just four sacrifice bunts, the fewest in the majors. Albernaz doesn’t have a firm philosophy on bunting and stealing.

“Whatever the game dictates,” he said. “We’re not going to be running just to be run on the bases. The 27 outs are extremely valuable. If you’re going to give up an out, it has to be a very specific situation, and when we’re running, we have to make sure we’re not just running into an out.

“We have to do our prep work to make sure this is the right time, that we can make it. There’s never a sure bet in this game. We try to place pretty strong bets that we’re going to succeed in that situation.”

Albernaz has spent time in Baltimore and visited the Ravens’ Owings Mills practice facility on Friday.

“I love the city. It’s awesome,” he said. “It feels like a big Northeast city, but it’s not. It’s smaller, too, which is awesome in itself. The people have been outstanding to me and my family, great food. Even taking the drive down to go to the Ravens’ practice facility and seeing that area, my first time doing that, it’s a great area.”

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