SARASOTA—There are 27 days until the Orioles open the 2026 season against the Minnesota Twins, and 22 days until the team plays its final Grapefruit League.
In the first two-plus weeks of spring training, the focus of manager Craig Albernaz has been to make sure the Orioles are ready for Opening Day.
So far, in his first stint as a major league manager, Albernaz has handled the setbacks well. He didn’t count on second baseman Jackson Holliday needing surgery to remove a hamate bone in his right wrist, or third baseman Jordan Westburg missing extended time because of a partially torn ligament in his right elbow. He encountered another one on Thursday, when catcher Samuel Basallo had to leave the game because of right side abdominal discomfort. The extent of Basallo’s injury isn’t known.
Albernaz hasn’t felt overwhelmed because of the preparation he received from Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash, former San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler, and Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt.
Albernaz learned under Cash when he worked in the Rays’ organization as a minor league coach, manager and administrator. He was the bullpen coach for Kapler with the Giants from 2020-2023, and coached under Vogt the last two seasons.
“I’ve been very blessed and fortunate to be around a lot of great coaches, managers and people in this game,” he said. “You put all those experiences together and this spring training has been, and it sounds crazy saying it, it doesn’t feel like my first time doing it, and that’s a credit to everywhere I’ve been.”
Albernaz was ready for the challenges of spring training.
“Spring training is always tough, from the scheduling to the mass of players that are in camp,” he said. The Orioles have 74 players in camp, including 36 pitchers, and that’s always difficult to handle. He’s had lots of help thanks to pitching coach Drew French and field coordinator/catching coach Joe Singley.
“Pitching is always the bear of spring training, making sure guys are getting their bullpens, getting their lives, touching the game,” Albernaz said. “We have so many guys, which is a great thing. That’s always the biggest chess piece to move and figure out, and also the WBC [World Baseball Classic] adds another wrinkle to that, making sure you’re doing right by the guys who are going to play in the WBC, making sure they’re ready to go because once they leave they’re out of your hands and out of your eyes. Taking all that into account, I think it’s been a great camp so far.”
Longtime baseball executive Andy MacPhail, who was the Orioles’ top baseball executive from 2007-2011, used to say that good spring trainings lead to good regular seasons. Albernaz isn’t sure he agrees.
“The reason I say that is just because of the grind and how long the baseball season is, 162 games,” Albernaz said. “It’s tough to be coming out of camp, and be like, ‘We had a good spring training. This is it.’ What the main thing is in spring training, you want to make sure that you have a great camp [because of] what you’re trying to establish process-wise, your non-negotiables, making sure the players feel the best leaving.
“I’m a big believer in players only feel 100 percent on Day 1 of spring training. After that, it’s a slow battle to get back to neutral, It’s battling the workload and making sure they’re getting what they need, but also not overdoing it where they’re already grinding and dragging butt in spring training. You want to make sure they hit the ground running during the season.”
These days, besides 162 games, there are four rounds of postseason. Last year, the Guardians trailed the Detroit Tigers by 12 ½ games on August 25th and still won the American League Central.
“I do believe in momentum, especially during the season,” Albernaz said. “It’s the players at the same time having a great collective feel of how to win baseball games. There’s a lot of stuff that can happen. Baseball’s the most unpredictable game. When the players are in the right mindset and they understand what to do to win that night, that’s when momentum comes in to play.”
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