About 20 minutes before his introductory press conference as Orioles manager on Tuesday, Craig Albernaz crouched like the minor-league catcher he once was, facing north on Eutaw Street behind the Camden Yards scoreboard under construction.
His 2-year-old daughter, Gigi, wearing orange bows in her hair, walked as quick as she could toward him. Mom, Genevieve, trailed behind, dressed up too. Albernaz, in a fresh black suit, eventually hoisted his youngest of three children in the air, looking like he was simply celebrating life and a new beginning.
The 43-year-old is the 21st manager of the Orioles, arriving from the Cleveland Guardians organization, where he was bench coach for reigning A.L. Manager of the Year Stephen Vogt the past two seasons, both division-winning years.
“This is a dream come true for me,” Albernaz would say later.
Arriving in Baltimore with glowing references and experience as an assistant coach with three MLB organizations (Cleveland, the San Francisco Giants, and the Tampa Bay Rays), as well as a stint coaching in Australia, this is Albernaz’s first managerial role since 2017—when he led a Single-A team in the Rays’ minor league system.
He’s now tasked with guiding a big-league A.L. East team that had an injury-plagued, 87-loss 2025 campaign. It was a departure from the trajectory of a young, talented core that led the O’s to the playoffs in 2023 and 2024, though they exited both without a win.
On Tuesday, Albernaz sat on a stage set up in the Warehouse Bar and Restaurant between O’s owner David Rubenstein and president of baseball operations and general manager Mike Elias. He fielded questions from reporters for about 45 minutes.
With his daughter, two sons, and wife—as well as his former boss and close friend Vogt—in the front row, Albernaz acknowledged his emotions. “Alby,” as his close friends know him, cracked a few jokes too, some at his own expense, showing a glimpse of who he is and what Birdland can anticipate.
“I just can’t wait for the fans to come out to watch our boys compete because we’re going to play a very exciting brand of baseball,” Albernaz said. “It’s going to be a great bounce-back year for this group.”
Here are a few top takeaways from his Baltimore introduction:
Get used to the Bahston accent.
Albernaz left home in New England (Fall River, Mass.) at age 17 to play baseball at Eckerd College in Florida, but his thick native accent hasn’t left him. A few moments into his opening statement, we heard “paht,” meaning “part,” and “Gahdians,” referring to his former team. A few weeks ago, when news broke of the hire, some funny people on the Internet speculated Albernaz was a mole for the Red Sox. But nobody will question that, nor care what he sounds like, if the Orioles have a strong season.
Albernaz’s personality isn’t lacking.
While clearly trying to hit the right notes upon introduction, he also let his personality shine, mostly when making jokes (about his height, 5-foot-8) and working with Elias on their offseason wish list. “Whatever Mike wants to cook up. I trust Mike,” Albernaz said. “That’s not my job. That’s Mike’s job. He’s pretty good at it. Actually, really good at it.” He added: “Please, Mike,” which drew a laugh and grin from the typically guarded GM.
When asked how many current O’s players he’s spoken to, Albernaz recognized an opening and referred to the viral “6-7” social media trend, which his sons—8-year-old CJ and 6-year-old Norman, sporting orange-and-black Air Force 1 sneakers that matched their parents and sister—wanted him to mention. “I’ve probably reached out to 6, 7 of them to be honest with you,” Albernaz said.
This wasn’t quite Buck Showalter’s wistfulness and charm in the 2010s (the last time the team won a postseason game), but Albernaz will be entertaining in his own way. Take it from his friend, Vogt, the Guardians manager, who talked to Baltimore reporters after the press conference Tuesday. “He’s going to keep everyone relaxed,” Vogt said. “He’s going to have personality. You got to give it back to him.”
He could be the right guy at the right time.
For all the high expectations for this Orioles team—and talks of future multi-million-dollar contracts for Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman, or Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg—they’re still young and maturing. I mean, get to Camden Yards early enough, and you can see Henderson riding into the clubhouse parking lot on an electric scooter. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but an older player concerned about injury would at least drive.)
Last season, injuries mounted all over the roster and pressure built early, leading to then-manager Brandon Hyde’s firing. Elias wanted the team’s young core to get back on track while justifying the coaching change to interim manager Tony Mansolino. Albernaz will be another new voice at Camden (Yahds), but his hire isn’t a huge departure from Hyde’s pedigree. Both were hired as first-time, young-ish managers, who never played in the majors, but are receptive to analytics and were part of former Rays and Cubs manager Joe Maddon’s coaching tree. But Albernaz appears to be a more playful version of the gruffer Hyde.
“I’m going to keep it loose. It’s baseball,” he said. “We’re with each other 162 games in a season, and more than our families. Guys play at their best when they’re having fun and just playing the kids’ game.”
That may be just what this team of Lego-loving young stars needs for a “bounce back” year in 2026. Yet Albernaz said “tough conversations” are necessary for improvement as well. He quoted Maddon: “You tell the player the truth, he might be mad at you for a day. If you lie to them, you lost him forever.”
“It was clear that this was a really good fit all-around,” Elias said. “The places he’s worked, the philosophies that he’s developed, I think his personality and personal style will be a really good fit for what our group needs, but also in this town and in this market.”
He understands the business.
One of Albernaz’s comments suggests he grasps a point that’s more important to professional athletes and winning teams than many fans recognize: “All players want to make as much money as they can,” Albernaz said, “and they want coaches in their corner, and people in their corner, that can help them do that. It also helps the team they’re with win a lot of games.”
This isn’t something you often hear professional coaches say publicly, but it’s an absolutely true dynamic. Managing personalities and motivations are as important as filling out the lineup.
And speaking of business, Rubenstein offered his offseason outlook and roster changes, saying they have “no particular restraints” on payroll and want to add complementary players, while deferring to Elias on the details.
“We have an investor group that’s pretty deep-pocketed,” Rubenstein said. “We’re able to do what we need to do. Mike has a lot of authority to go out and find the best players that we can get…We don’t feel we need to break [payroll] records, but we want to get good players who want to be part of an organization that is very cohesive.”
He’s all about family.
Gigi, Albernaz’s daughter, ended up stealing the show at the press conference, at first making noise from the front row—as a 2-year-old does when tasked with sitting still for long.
Eventually, Rubenstein suggested she come up to Dad on stage, and the O’s owner handed her to Albernaz, leading to this cute and touching exchange:
Albernaz said you’ll see his family at games. Though they’ve lived many different places, his wife—a former Philadelphia Phillies ball girl—says she’s excited for her family to embrace a new accent: Bawlmer.
Dad - Mass
Mom - PA
Kids have lived in Australia, the West coast and Midwest. Now I’m learning there’s a Baltimore accent. The diverse dialect of these Alby kids will be ELITE. — Genevieve Albernaz (@GenevieveAlby) October 30, 2025