Orioles reportedly close to hiring Craig Albernaz as manager

Jacob Calvin Meyer, The Baltimore Sun on Oct 26, 2025

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — The Orioles on Sunday evening are finalizing a deal to hire Craig Albernaz to be their next manager, according to multiple reports.

The team is set to hire Albernaz, who served as the Cleveland Guardians’ associate manager for the 2025 season, after a nearly monthlong managerial search following their disappointing 75-87 campaign, bringing in a respected young coach to help turn around the ballclub’s struggling young core. The team has yet to announce the hire, which was first reported as being finalized by ESPN.

The expected hire makes Albernaz one of MLB’s youngest managers at 42 years old. He has no MLB managerial experience and only one season as a minor league skipper.

President of baseball operations Mike Elias and an Orioles spokesperson did not comment when asked if the club had hired Albernaz.

Albernaz was seen as one of the more attractive candidates on the market given his rise up the big league coaching ranks, which began in 2020 with the San Francisco Giants. He joined the Guardians as Stephen Vogt’s bench coach in 2024 and was promoted to associate manager for the 2025 season. Albernaz reportedly withdrew from consideration for the Miami Marlins and Chicago White Sox jobs last offseason to remain with Cleveland.

Elias has reportedly chosen to bring in Albernaz, a former minor league catcher and coach for the Tampa Bay Rays, instead of sticking with Tony Mansolino, who served as the club’s interim manager for 119 games after the firing of Brandon Hyde on May 17 following a disastrous 15-28 start to the season. The hire of Albernaz is Elias’ second managerial hire in charge of Baltimore’s front office after he brought in Hyde in December 2018.

Elias said during his end-of-season news conference that he wanted to hire a manager “ASAP” with the large number of open managerial jobs, including the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels and Atlanta Braves. Experience was something Elias said would be a factor in his decision-making.

“I think experience is usually, overwhelmingly usually, a big positive,” he said. “I think it will definitely carry a lot of weight given all the factors. But if you look at history, it is not a requisite for managerial success and it’s not necessary and nor does it guarantee success. Like I said earlier, it’ll all be weighed in the portfolio of the candidate and there are other perceived strengths and areas of lacking. We’ll just look at the whole picture and the person and try to decide who’s best for us right now. But you know, experience would definitely be an attractive feature by and large.”

Mansolino’s status in the organization remains unclear. The former third base and infield coach said he would be open to other roles in the organization if they’re offered to him. Elias spoke highly of Mansolino, under whom the Orioles went 60-59.

“We think he did a terrific job as the interim manager with that particular assignment in 2025 with where the players were, with where the organization was,” Elias said. “I thought he added a lot of value and did a great job with that assignment and I got the chance to work with him much more closely during this and I’m very impressed with him as I’ve gotten to know him more, and I think he’s a very talented guy and has a lot of skills that would add up to a great major league manager now or in the future.”

With about a week until free agency begins, now it’s up to Elias and his front office to address the club’s needs this offseason in hopes of a bounce-back season in 2026.

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