ORLANDO, Fla. -- Spring Training may still be two months away, but Craig Albernaz is already formulating his plan for how he’ll run his first Orioles camp.
In 2026, Baltimore will be getting back to the basics.
“I think when you get to Spring Training, you really have to focus on the little details,” Albernaz said Monday at the Winter Meetings. “We’re going to attack the small things. We’re going to attack the fundamentals, so we have that strong foundation and baseline heading into the season.”
It sounds like a smart idea. In 2025, the O’s didn’t always play the most fundamentally clean baseball. Some of the struggles in that area were reasons for the team’s 75-87 record and unexpected last-place finish in the American League East.
Albernaz’s spring agenda rooted in fundamentals wasn’t something he came up with by himself. It came from his initial conversations with Orioles players.
There hasn’t been one team-wide call or group text, but Albernaz has called every player individually. The 43-year-old first-time manager went into the talks aiming to learn his players and begin establishing bonds.
One thing happened that Albernaz might not have expected: Each player expressed the same desire to do the little things better and to play a cleaner brand of baseball.
“It was surprising, not the observations, it was surprising to me how each player said the same thing,” Albernaz said. “It was really cool for me because the self-reflection, the self-awareness, was off the charts, and no jaded views of the season, either for them or the team.
“It just speaks to the character of these guys and the culture that's built here, is that these guys are all saying the same thing and it's nothing about personal aspirations, it’s all about the team.”
President of baseball operations Mike Elias is in support of this push to hammer the basics, too.
“Everybody talks about that topic all the time, everybody’s trying to get better at it, and we do want to emphasize it, I think it’s hugely important,” Elias said. “You have to keep your foot on the gas pedal when it comes to fundamentals. I think [Albernaz’s] staff and some of the guys that we’ve got working on this topic in the Minor Leagues now, including Mike Shildt, it’s going to be a big focus for us.”
Albernaz may not have big league managerial experience, but Shildt does. After tenures as the skipper of the Cardinals (2018-21) and Padres (2024-25), the 57-year-old was hired last month to be the Orioles’ upper-level coordinator of instruction in the Minor Leagues.
Shildt can help implement this organization-wide plan to play clean baseball, getting players at Triple-A Norfolk and Double-A Chesapeake ready for what to eventually expect in the Majors.
“Fundamentals is a part of it,” Elias said of the hiring of Shildt. “We wanted more roving instructors in the Minor Leagues helping polish them to prepare them for Major League Baseball, and getting an instructor with his track record. ... I think it was a perfect fit.”
As for Albernaz, he said his first O’s camp will have a fun atmosphere. But he also plans to put the players to work to get each of them to reach his full potential.
Players like Adley Rutschman, Tyler O’Neill and Colton Cowser will be looking to have bounce-back seasons. Guys such as Jackson Holliday, Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers are striking for breakout years. Even a star such as Gunnar Henderson still has areas to upgrade.
Albernaz has a reputation of being a well-liked, personable guy, which he has already shown plenty early in his tenure with Baltimore. So if there’s anybody who can get the O’s to accomplish these goals they’ve already set out on these winter phone calls, it could be him.
“A lot of it has been just attacking little things each day,” Albernaz said. “That gets lost, especially with young players, but all baseball players. You kind of lose sight of what makes team baseball like a team-functioning aspect of the game. So for us, it's getting back to that point. And that's why our Spring Training is going to be like that.”