O's add Brady North, Hank Conger to '26 coaching staff (sources)

BALTIMORE -- The Orioles are adding another coach with ties to new manager Craig Albernaz, as well as a former big league catcher with a wealth of baseball experience, to their 2026 staff, which is nearing completion.

Baltimore is set to hire Brady North as assistant hitting coach and Hank Conger as bullpen coach, according to sources. The club has not yet confirmed or announced the moves.

North, 34, spent the past four seasons as the Rays’ assistant hitting coach. It was announced last month that the Nashville native would not be returning to Tampa Bay’s Major League coaching staff, though he was offered a different role within the organization.

The Rays gave North the option to leave if he found a big league job elsewhere, which is now the case, as he’ll be moving to a different American League East team.

North has spent his entire pro coaching career in Tampa Bay’s system. He began as the hitting coach for the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Rays in 2019, when Albernaz was working as the club’s Minor League field coordinator.

In Baltimore, North will work under Dustin Lind, the former Phillies assistant hitting coach who is set to be hired as the O’s hitting coach, per a source.

Conger, 37, played seven MLB seasons as a catcher for the Angels (2010-14), Astros (‘15) and Rays (‘16). He spent the 2025 season as the Twins’ assistant bench/catching coach after previously serving as the first-base/catching coach from 2022-24.

A Huntington Beach, Calif., native, Conger began his coaching career in the Korea Baseball Organization, where he worked as the Lotte Giants’ bench/catching coach in 2020-21.

Here’s how the Orioles’ 2026 coaching staff is shaping up, according to sources:

Bench coach: Donnie Ecker
Hitting coach: Dustin Lind
Assistant hitting coach: Brady North
First-base coach: Jason Bourgeois
Third-base coach: Buck Britton
Infield coach: Miguel Cairo
Field coordinator/catching coach: Joe Singley
Bullpen coach: Hank Conger

Pitching coach Drew French, assistant pitching coach/interim bullpen coach Mitch Plassmeyer and pitching strategy coach Ryan Klimek are all set to return, according to a source, though exact titles for the trio are not yet known.

Albernaz previously overlapped with Ecker (2020-21) and Lind (2020-23) on the Giants’ coaching staff. Albernaz and Bourgeois were Triple-A Durham teammates in the Rays’ system in ‘13.

Former bench coach Robinson Chirinos, former interim manager/third-base coach Tony Mansolino (Braves’ bench coach), former hitting coach Cody Asche (Tigers’ hitting coach), former assistant hitting coach Tommy Joseph, former assistant hitting coach Sherman Johnson (White Sox hitting coordinator) and former first-base coach Anthony Sanders (Tigers’ first-base coach) have all departed the organization since the end of the season.

Major League development coach Grant Anders and senior advisor John Mabry are not returning, according to sources.