Joe Maddon makes admission about new Orioles manager

Baltimore hired the 43-year-old on October 26 to be their manager after the club endured a disappointing 2025 season, which resulted in the O's firing Brandon Hyde on May 15 after a 15-28 start. Third base coach Tony Mansolino would end up taking over as the interim manager for the rest of the year.

Maddon's high praise of Albernaz stems from the two men having a prior connection with a fellow AL East team. Maddon was the Tampa Bay Rays' manager from 2006 to 2014 and Albernaz was in Tampa Bay's minor league system as a catcher from 2006 to 2013. Despite never reaching the major leagues due to a disappointing .199 batting average and .530 OPS in 382 career minor league games, Maddon admitted he still saw some potential in their former backstop.

“Whenever you were speaking with him, the eyes were locked in,” Maddon said. “Definitely not from the church of ‘I know it all’ kind of a guy, not even. He was just wide open. I always really appreciate those that listen, and I think for the person that really listens, you’ll give them everything you got. I think that’s just natural, and I always thought that about him.”

While he would never be called up to the Rays, Albernaz would find much more success as a coach after his playing days were over. He spent the 2014 season with the Detroit Tigers as a minor league catching coach and then returned to the Rays for the next five seasons.

During that stretch in the Rays' organization, Albernaz served as a coach for two seasons and was then named one of the Rays' minor league field coordinators in 2019. Albernaz finally made it to the major leagues as a coach in 2020, serving as the San Francisco Giants' bullpen and catching coach until 2023.

He was most recently the bench coach for the Cleveland Guardians in 2024 and was then named the associate manager under manager Stephen Vogt this past season.

Because of all that coaching experience in both the minor and major leagues, Maddon doesn't see any reason why Albernaz can't excel as a major league skipper.

“It’s my favorite word, is experience. I love the fact that he’s had it,” Maddon said. “He’s going to be going in there with his eyes wide open, with experience. He knows what he thinks. That might sound stupid, but some guys don’t even know what they think.”

Maddon certainly knows a thing or two about what it takes to be a successful big league manager. During his tenure with the Rays, the now 71-year-old led the franchise to its first American League pennant in 2008. After leaving Tampa Bay, Maddon was hired by the Chicago Cubs in 2015 as their new manager, leading the team to its first World Series championship in over a century during the 2016 season. He took the Cubs to the playoffs in four of the five seasons at the helm, but his contract was not renewed after Chicago missed the playoffs in 2019.

While Maddon would return to baseball after being hired by the Los Angeles Angels in October 2019 to be their new skipper, his tenure with the team was disappointing. After missing the playoffs in 2020 and 2021, Maddon was fired by the Angels during the middle of the 2022 season following a 12-game losing streak.

Despite not hiring a manager with no prior experience at the big league level, Maddon brushed off those concerns for Albernaz.

“All those personality qualities that he had, I think, play big for him right now,” Maddon said. “As the spokesman for the organization, he’s going to do really well, with his press conferences and addressing the team, things of that nature. I think he’s going to be a natural for that.”