Photo courtesy Baltimore Orioles
New manager Brandon Hyde finally has a coaching staff, and while it may be bereft of big names, there are some that are familiar to Oriole fans.
Hyde, who was appointed Orioles manager on Dec. 13, has named Arnie Beyeler his first base coach, Doug Brocail as pitching coach, Tim Cossins as major league coordinator and catching coach, Jose Flores the third base coach, Jose Hernandez as major league coach, Don Long hitting coach, and John Wasdin as bullpen coach.
Howie Clark will return for his third season as assistant hitting coach.
Besides Clark, who played 21 games for the Orioles in 2002 and 2006, Hernandez and Wasdin have Oriole backgrounds.
Hernandez, who played 15 seasons in the major leagues, will begin his 10th season with the Orioles’ organization. He spent the last six seasons as Norfolk’s field coach.
Wasdin, who pitched in 26 games for the Orioles in 2001, spent the last two seasons as their minor league pitching coordinator.
Beyeler was the Triple-A New Orleans manager in the Miami organization for the past three seasons and worked the previous three as Boston’s first base coach.
Brocail, who is familiar with general manager Mike Elias from their time in Houston, spent the last three seasons as Texas’ pitching coach.
Cossins, like Hyde a Northern California native, worked with him in Chicago the last six seasons as the Cubs’ minor league field/catching coordinator.
Flores was Philadelphia’s first base coach last season, and spent the previous five seasons working with Hyde as Chicago’s minor league infield instructor.
Long served as the Cincinnati Reds hitting coach for the past five seasons.
Clark was originally reassigned as a minor league coach, but the Orioles decided he was better suited to remain in the position he had for the last two seasons.
Hyde has not designated positional assignments for the infielders and outfielders, but Flores is expected to work with the infielders and Beyeler the outfielders. Cossins may be the bench coach, though Hyde hasn’t announced that.
Scott Coolbaugh, who was the Orioles’ hitting coach for the last four seasons, is now the Triple-A hitting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers team in Oklahoma City.
Bobby Dickerson, the third base and infield coach for the last six years, essentially replaces Flores with the Phillies as their infield instructor.
John Russell, the Orioles’ bench coach since 2011, took a job coaching at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where his son goes to school.
Einar Diaz, who served as a coach since 2014 and most recently as a bullpen catcher, is a coach for Atlanta’s Triple-A team in Gwinnett.
Alan Mills, the bullpen coach for the past two years, will serve as a minor league coach. His assignment is expected to be announced shortly.
First base coach Wayne Kirby and pitching coach Roger McDowell have not announced 2019 plans.
Hot Stove in York
Dan Connolly, who co-founded BaltimoreBaseball.com with Steve Cockey, will host his annual “Hot Stove Baseball Talk,” on Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church in York, Pa.
Connolly, who now covers the Orioles for The Athletic, will be joined by Scott Proefrock, the assistant general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, and MASN Sports’ Mel Antonen.
They will take questions from the audience.
There is no admission fee for the event, but a freewill offering will be taken to assist the church’s youth ministry.
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Rich, I wish I was able to say I heard of any of these men, not that my thoughts have anything to with the O’s. Fans have a mild connection with Howie Clark, although he was rarely interviewed by media. So, I’m not in position to comment on the coach choices. I just have my fingers crossed that fans give this makeover a total chance. It will be awhile for post season. Read some where a sports writing group posted The I’d are in line to win 64 games. How they determine that I have no answer.
Have a happy week.
PA, there were a couple of new names in there for me, too.
Thanks for this update on the coaching staff. I was unsure what a “coordinator” position was until you explained that they may become bench coach or positional coach. I’m looking forward to Spring Training and seeing this new coaching staff can do.
I am as well, Cedar.
I can't believe it! They managed to assemble a coaching staff with less name recognition than the players
I think you would find that the case in many of the staffs assembled by other teams that changed managers this offseason, BirdsCaps.
Given how late Mike Elias and Brandon Hyde were forced to assemble this staff, I think they did quite well. Brocail and Long were big league pitching/hitting coaches last year, and Flores was in the majors as well. Well done.
Time will tell, Steve. Frankly, I’m not sure how much impact coaches really have at the major league level. Talent wins out. What is the WAR for a manager or coaches? My guess is negligible.
I'm sure the new coaching staff will do a fine job with the young team the Orioles will be fielding. I know all thing must end at some point, but I personally will miss Wayne Kirby at 1st base. We sit right by the 1st base coaches box and he always was a lot of fun during the games.
Kirby made his presence known, ClyOs.
Hard to say anything good or bad about Hyde and his crew. "Work in progess" may be the most applicable comment for the time being. Name familiarity? No big deal. I dare anybody to name 2 coaches on any other team. Elias/Mejdal remains the off season coup I'll hang my hat on for the time being. Coaching staff?--bandaids to hold it all together.