BALTIMORE _ Brandon Hyde will be the 20th manager in Orioles history, the club announced Friday, solidifying the selection that was first reported Tuesday at baseball's winter meetings but was deemed premature by executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias as it beamed from the television screen in his Las Vegas hotel suite.
Hyde, who was hired away from the Chicago Cubs after spending 2018 as their bench coach and five years on their major league coaching staff, was selected from a group of six candidates that included Colorado Rockies bench coach Mike Redmond, Washington Nationals bench coach Chip Hale, Arizona Diamondbacks vice president of player development Mike Bell, Kansas City Royals quality control/catching coach Pedro Grifol, and Seattle Mariners bench coach Manny Acta.
"After conducting an intensive search, I believe that we have found the ideal leader for the next era of Orioles baseball," Elias said in a statement. "Brandon's deep background in player development and major league coaching, most recently helping to shape the Cubs into a world champion, has thoroughly prepared him for this job and distinguished him throughout our interview process. I look forward to introducing him to our fans next week and to working together with him to build the next great Orioles team."
Elias spoke glowingly of the managerial-interview process during his media sessions at the winter meetings, but said little about the specifics of who was involved or who was his selection at the time, citing the need to complete the hire.
But now that it's set, so, too, is the group that will lead the Orioles into its new era beginning with the 2019 season.
Elias, in his first season leading the Orioles after he was selected last month, said this week that he views the manager as an extension of the front office, in that he wants an open dialogue and rapport with him, as is customary in the way modern baseball operations are set up.
But just because Hyde has experience in a Cubs organization that does a good job of melding the baseball side with the data side, that doesn't mean he'll be a spreadsheet manager who takes his cues from upstairs.
The Orioles were also attracted to his player development background _ he spent 2013 as the director of player development for the Cubs, and before he was on the major league staff from 2010-2011 with the then-Florida Marlins, he spent five years as a minor league manager.
A former Chicago White Sox farmhand who caught at Long Beach State University before signing as an undrafted free agent, the 45-year-old Hyde takes over a major league team that was stripped of its major assets last summer en route to a club-record 115-loss season. His roster features far more players who are trying to establish themselves at the major league level than those who have proven track records of performance.
He'll be the daily face of a rebuilding team, one where winning at the major league level will, for the time being, be secondary to building an organizational infrastructure and player development system that can sustainably build championship contenders.
But just as Elias and assistant general manager Sig Mejdal come from an Astros organization that did just that and were rewarded with championship rings, so, too, does Hyde, whose year in charge of the Cubs' farm, right as they tore things down, was seen as pivotal to the progress of many who are now counted among their top stars.
Hyde will be introduced at Camden Yards on Monday at noon.
