BALTIMORE -- Shortly after the conclusion of the 2019 season, around two dozen coaching hopefuls streamed through the gates of Camden Yards. Inside the warehouse offices, finalists for the several open positions along the Orioles’ player development chain faced one final step in an exhaustive, creative interview process: collaborative sessions that effectively functioned as group tryouts.

During these sessions, candidates worked alongside former players and current front office members to complete tasks in real time, competing against each other in groups as small as four and large as nine. They were tested on their leadership and communication abilities, fluency of analytics and capabilities in the technological components of modern player development that, year after year, teams are prioritizing more and more.

The result was the wave of new hires the Orioles made official Monday, when they announced their player development staff for the 2020 season. Under new director of player development Matt Blood, the Orioles are in the process of on-boarding 19 new coaches and instructors to their system for next season, many of who were selected from these sessions. In many ways, the wave of hiring functions as the final brushstrokes of a calendar year defined by organizational overhaul and restructuring.

“Our goal is to be able to service and develop our players in a holistic and efficient way, with the best processes, best approaches technologies and data information that is available to essentially create a world class player development system,” Blood told MLB.com recently. “Most of the people we’ve reached out to explain the vision and direction have been excited about it and wanted to be involved. That’s been really inspiring. People are excited about the opportunity here and the direction we’re headed. The people we are attracting are inspired by the challenge.”

The fresh faces include new Norfolk Tides developmental coach Eli Steinfield, who has ties to Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias, director of pitching Chris Holt and others from his time with the Astros; Double-A Bowie hitting coach Tim Gibbons, who comes from the private Be Elite Sports Training academy in Chicago; Bowie development coach Grant Anders; Advanced A Fredrick fundamentals coach Collin Woody, a former Orioles farmhand; Keys developmental coach David Barry; Class A Delmarva hitting coach Ryan Fuller; developmental coach Jeff Kunkel; fundamentals coach Matt Packer; Low-A Aberdeen pitching coach Joe Haumacher; hitting coach Anthony Villa; fundamentals coach Branden Becker, and developmental coach Joe Bothelho.

Frederick has a new manager in Kyle Moore, who managed Delmarva in 2019, and an entirely new staff. Gary Kendall, Buck Britton and Kevin Bradshaw return as managers at Norfolk, Bowie and Aberdeen, respectively, while Dave Anderson takes over a manager at Delmarva after spending last season as the O’s Minor League infield coordinator. Alan Mills and Elvis Morel return to manager the GCL Orioles and one Dominican Summer League team, respectively. Chris Madera will manage the other DSL squad.

The changes also include promotions for Tides pitching coach Kennie Steenstra, Baysox pitching coach Justin Ramsey, Keys pitching coach Josh Conway, Keys hitting coach Tom Eller and Keys developmental coach David Barry.

Some other notable news and notes from Monday’s announcement:

• Sean Berry, who spent 2019 in the Marlins system, returns to Orioles organization to serve as Norfolk’s hitting coach. He held the same position from '15-17.

• The Orioles also hired Tim DeJohn, son of longtime Cardinals’ minor league coordinator Mark DeJohn, as their Gulf Coast League development coach. This is the first job in professional baseball for DeJohn, who most recently coached the Milwaukee Milkmen of the Independent American Association.

• Several new hires sport nontraditional backgrounds but no professional coaching experience, notably Gibbons, Fuller, Haumacher, GCL fundamentals coach Chrisian Frias, GCL hitting coach Patrick Jones and DSL hitting coach Josh Bunselmeyer. Gibbons (Be Elite Sports) and Fuller (Power in Training) arrive from private training companies, while Haumacher, Frias and Bunselmeyer come from the college ranks. Jones spent the past two seasons coaching at Moeller High School in Cincinnati.

• Also new to the organization is sports psychologist Kathryn Rowe, who comes from the University of Rochester (NY) men’s soccer team where she served as the team’s mental skills coach.

• The Orioles also officially announced the hiring of Eve Rosenbaum to the newly-created front-office role of director of baseball development. The hiring, first reported last week, makes Rosenbaum the highest-ranking female member of the Orioles’ front office. In the role, Rosenbaum “will oversee the alignment of methods across baseball operations, while also enhancing coordination between the scouting, player development and analytics departments,” according to the team.