We are 87 days away from the start of spring training in 2025, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t news until then. Free agency is underway as multiple players have signed contracts with new teams, and options have been picked up for others. Fans have even seen the left field wall of a popular ballpark undergo renovations yet again. There’s more big news Monday morning, as the Baltimore Orioles announced their 2025 major league coaching staff.
There’re obvious choices on this O’s coaching staff, such as Brandon Hyde returning for his seventh year as the O’s skipper. However, there is a lot of moving around and a few new surprises in store for 2025. For starters, former Norfolk Tides manager Buck Britton made the jump up to the major leagues to become one of the coaches. Britton managed the Orioles AAA for three years prior to coming to Baltimore.
Britton played professional baseball from 2008-2016 but never made it higher than AAA. Britton became the Single-A Delmarva hitting coach in 2017 and became manager in 2018. He then later became manager of the AA Bowie Baysox (now the Chesapeake Baysox) in 2019. Another former Oriole is on the coaching staff as the team hired Robinson Chirinos as their bench coach. Chirinos played professionally from 2011-2022 as a catcher and spent the 2022 season backing up Adley Rutschman for the O’s.
Chirinos will take over for former bench coach Fredi Gonzalez who was bench coach from 2022-2024. Lots of Orioles fans were a little surprised when the O’s fired Gonzalez on October 11, 2024. The move to hire Robinson Chirinos should cheer some fans up as Chirinos can use his playing experience to resonate with the players on this roster, especially Rutschman. Chirinos has the big game experience that many O’s players lack, as he caught for the Houston Astros in the 2019 world series.
Many around the Baltimore area were looking for changes to be made after another early playoff exit in 2024. Baltimore let both hitting coaches go after the season ended and promoted Cody Asche to hitting coach for 2025. Asche spent the last two years as the offensive strategy coach for the O’s. The O’s also hired former Mariners hitting coach Tommy Joseph to assist Cody Asche next season.
This new look coaching staff looks a lot different from the one that won 91 games this past season. With a lot of young stars on the roster and the burning desire to finally succeed in the playoffs, the O’s needed change. There are still some familiar faces that will join Brandon Hyde in Sarasota in 2025. Tony Mansolino and Anthony Sanders will return as base coaches, and Drew French will return as the pitching coach. Let’s hope that these new faces and perspectives can push the O’s over the hump for a memorable 2025 campaign.
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