by Orioles general manager Mike Elias spoke of an in-depth analysis of the entire organization after the team failed to win a postseason game for the second straight year. The first domino? Three coaching changes.
Assistant hitting coach Ryan Fuller will not return in 2025, two sources told The Baltimore Banner. A source confirmed that replacement coach Fredi González and coach José Hernández will also not be returning. The moves were first reported by Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.
It is unclear whether the decision for Fuller not to return was initiated by the batting coach or the team; Either way, it’s coming after the offense went into a tailspin in the second half. This was partly due to injuries, as Jorge Mateo, Jordan Westburg, Ryan Mountcastle and Ramón Urías missed parts of the season. But there were also dips that led to Baltimore’s 117 wRC+ – a metric used to evaluate offensive productivity, with 100 being average – rising from first in the majors to seventh after the All-Star break.
It wasn’t for lack of effort. Baltimore hitters defended their hitting coaches late in the season as external pressure increased due to a team-wide lull. And manager Brandon Hyde, who will return in 2025, pointed out how difficult the job of a hitting coach is.
“You’re never going to play 13 or whatever at the same time,” Hyde said after the season. “There will be three guys starting, three guys will be struggling and there will be six guys in between, and that changes every three or four days. So it’s a really, really hard job. Hitting is so hard. I think our guys are doing a great job of preparing our guys. I find her incredibly likeable. Guys love to beat them in the cage. They are incredibly prepared, they are incredibly positive and they live and die with each and every one of our guys. That’s all you can ask for.”
But Elias spoke of “investigate[ing] “Everything about our offensive approach, our teachings, the personnel mix” at the end-of-season press conference, and some of that seems to have led to the coaching staff. As of now, assistant hitting coach Matt Borgschulte and offensive strategist Cody Asche remain.
These are, of course, the same coaches who helped the Orioles win 192 games in 2023 and 2024. But the lack of postseason success is leading to change.
“As I try to think this offseason about what we can adjust in a lot of different ways — whether it’s staffing, all the things I just mentioned, processes, information, all the things we do here — I have to Finding the right balance “All the positivity we achieved with that bad taste in the mouth, the poor result in the playoffs and an overall disappointing second half,” Elias said.
The decision to part ways with González is a surprise. He was a trusted resource for Hyde, a veteran major league manager who joined a young manager in 2019 to help Hyde at the helm. During the final stretch of this season, González said he and Hyde often talked about difficult stretches and how to overcome them.
“We have had discussions about it,” González said. “He asked me, ‘Have you ever seen anything like this?’ I turned around and said, ‘Do you remember back in 2011 when I went through the same thing in Atlanta?’ And he asks, ‘What would you do? What did you do differently?’ And we talked about it a little bit.”
González praised Hyde for maintaining an even demeanor rather than exploding at referees or his players. But as Hyde enters his seventh season, there will be a new replacement coach at his side. One possibility would be Triple-A Norfolk manager Buck Britton, considering he spent most of his playing and coaching career in the organization and manages many of the players now with the Orioles.
Hernández has also been with the Orioles for a long time. After 10 years in the minor league system, he joined the major league coaching staff in 2019.
